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"id": 236610,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, apart from the hooliganism that we see in this country, there are no abuses of human rights by the Government. That does not mean that the Commission that has been set up and is enjoying public financing should, for lack of something to do, start harassing innocent Ministers, hon. Members and citizens, under the guise of looking for work to keep themselves busy and create some relevance. I believe that this House, having passed a law giving the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) some supernormal powers and making it answerable to nobody, has an obligation to re-look as to whether it created a monster that it cannot question. We will receive a report here and debate it but what can we do with it? I believe that these are some of the lessons we are learning from all those bodies we created, that act under the control of no person, including this House. I am on record as having queried the wisdom of some of the bodies we created. Nobody can ask a question on what the KNCHR is doing, and get a satisfactory answer because not even the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs is aware of what the Commission is doing, since it is supposed to be independent. That is a Commission we created. We are now learning a lesson and we need to correct the situation. As we look at some of these issues and take this opportunity, I believe it is time to also look at the value being added by the Committees of Parliament. If I were to put myself in the shoes of the Committee Members as they vetted the names of the Members to be appointed to the Commission, I wonder what criteria I would have used in proposing one name and not the other. I am not a human resource consultant. Apart from looking at the political considerations - we have seen names being debated in this House and the main politics that emerge are that the person being discussed does not come from the preferred areas and that some areas are not well represented. This is something which we need to debate, as a Parliament and see if we are best equipped. What is our role as a Parliament once we have legislated and said what criteria should be used in appointing people? Should it not be the work of the Executive, to deliver in accordance with the law as legislated by Parliament, so that this House can be in a position to raise issues when the Executive does not do its job, in terms of appointing the wrong people or not in accordance with the law? I believe these are lessons we are learning as hon. Members, from both sides of the House. These are issues we will live with. However, we cannot allow the same mistakes to haunt our children in the future. I follow debates that are initiated by Parliamentary Committees and I believe that they have the same problems, in terms of meandering from their core mandates. They have started looking at issues which are extraneous to their mandates. As we were passing the Licensing Bill, I was very encouraged to hear hon. Muturi say that we pass major legislations. However, the Committee of Parliament that was supposed to look at the Bill had not even given its input. We are seeing Committees meandering. We saw the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) purporting to be a court of law and going all the way to London to receive information from Githongo. The Committee brought us information here on Anglo Leasing. We debated it and the Committee came up with a report on all the 18 contracts, as given by the Controller and Audit-General, as per the law. Up to today, I have not seen a report coming to this House because it is not politically fit to do so. We saw the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade, purporting to be a November 2, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3393 court of law, deciding on the fate of Charterhouse Bank and asking me to reopen the bank, a matter that is before the courts. We saw the same Committee go for meetings and saying that, in fact, it was misled by the Minister, and so it came up with a different report. Where is the credibility and integrity of our Committees in this House? These are issues we need to internalise and discuss because soon, this House will become irrelevant. Committees will become irrelevant when they become floors for people to lobby for issues. When I look at the issues of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, I am disappointed to hear the Leader of the Official Opposition asking the Government to do things which are not consistent with the Constitution. The Constitution is very clear, in terms of the appointment of Commissioners. I am aware that there were agreements within the IPPG. However, I would have expected the Leader of the Official Opposition, if he was keen on seeing the policies being followed, to bring a Motion to this House so as to internalise the agreements within the law. Those were agreements that were forced on Kenyans because of the circumstances they were in, and because people did not respect the law. So, the issue was done in a paralegal way. I am disappointed to hear that four years after seeing the record of respect for law, we still doubt the Kibaki Government. I would like to assure the hon. Member that when the time comes for reappointment, the law will be followed to the letter. I also heard the hon. Member remind us of an issue he constantly reminds us about; that he accepted defeat during the 2002 general election. What choice was there after such a resounding defeat? The issue we are talking about is one of common general principle. Once you are defeated, you have to accept defeat. When we were defeated during the referendum, we accepted defeat, despite all the machinations that were there and the misinformation that was given to people. However, that should not be a constant reminder of what happened then or did not happen. It is important for us to start thinking, as a Parliament, on how to have an institution that has respect. The institution of Parliament should have respect for the institution of the Presidency. I am disappointed at the constant reference and the doubts that are being casted on the Presidency as an institution, especially, as we are all aspiring to be presidents one day. Why are we aspiring to be presidents if we cannot respect the current President? We should not be in this House casting doubts and saying that the President appoints his own friends. That should not be happening. The true record of the Kibaki Government has demonstrated that there are more resources going to areas that never supported the President than those that supported him. That is what statesmanship is all about. We are coming from a regime where areas which did not support the President were denied resources. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are moving forward and I think we need to learn from past mistakes and look into the future rather working from a point of suspicion. We should not tie the institution of Parliament to appointments on the strength of suspicion for the President. We must remember that the President is elected by the people. We are also elected by the people from specific constituencies. When we come here, our mandate is very clear; to come and legislate, and create the framework for the other institutions to operate. Our mandate is not to come and start taking over the job of the Executive or the Judiciary as we are now purporting to do by making ourselves recruitment agents or paralegal courts to start making judgements on when banks should be opened or closed. That way, we are getting into the realm of the other arms of the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I could go on and on, but in the interest of time and other Members contributing, with reservations, I beg to support."
}