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"id": 238479,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/238479/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
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"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
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"content": "Secondly, in making information available to the public, it compels public institutions and bureaucracies to maintain good records which cannot be altered at will, so as to hide further information and make the Government opaque to the detriment of good governance. Thirdly, public officials will need to take reasonable steps to assist any person seeking to exercise the right to access official information. In other words, when a citizen goes to a public office to seek information, he or she is not unduly hindered to have access to that information. I will give an example of something that happened to me last week. My nephew - the son of my sister - was arrested by Administration Police officers in a house where he stays. It was during one of the inspections that the police do at random. He was taken to Karen Police Station and kept there for three days. I was too busy to pay attention. But when my niece called and told me the conditions under which he was arrested, I did not think it was something that would take more than six hours to sort out. Unfortunately, he was detained at Karen Police Station for three days. His cousin gave Kshs10,000 to his sister. The sister went to Karen Police Station, paid that money and was not given any receipt. The young man was then released. I did not know all that until I went to the police station to find out what happened. I found out from the police that he had been released. When I asked them the conditions under which he was released, they were not able to tell me. I insisted on looking at the Occurrence Book (OB), but they refused and yet, it is a public document. I insisted further and had access to the Deputy Officer Commanding Police Station. The Deputy OCS could not let me read the OB until he called the Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD). When he gave me the phone to talk to the OCPD, I asked him one question: \"Tell me, Mr. OCPD, is the OB a public document or not?\" He told me it is a public document. I said: \"I will have access to it\". Then he said: \" Afande, yes, Sir! Have access to it\". That is when the Deputy OCS copied down the entry on a paper - he did not want me to read the OB - and handed it to me with the rubber stamp of the station. The case has now been reported to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). I am waiting to see the extent to which KACC can take up this issue and act October 18, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2987 on it. But that is a practical case of Government officers hindering, even an hon. Member of Parliament, access to OB, which is at the front office at any police station. It is meant to be a medium of interaction between the Police force and public so that, when you go there, they can tell you what has been occurring. That is why it is called: \"Occurrence Book!\" But because we do not have a law compelling officers to make the public have access to information, it was demonstrated to me very clearly at the police station. We do not have freedom of information in this Republic, 45 years after Independence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is public interest for official disclosures. If there is no official disclosure of information, it leads to corruption and bad governance. I want to read to this august House what President James Madison said about freedom of information or availability of knowledge to the public. James Madison, Hamilton and Jeiy were the three very prominent Americans who took part in the debate that laid down the Constitution of the United States of America (USA). Of those three, only Jeiy never become a president. I think Hamilton and Madisson, subsequently, became presidents. James Madison said the following:- \"Knowledge will for ever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power of knowledge. A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is, but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or, perhaps, both.\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when we took power as NARC, we proclaimed ourselves as defenders of democracy and promoters of good governance. However, it has rapidly become tragic that rather than champion the politics of \"disclosure\" the Government rapidly began practising the politics of \"foreclosure\". Recently, I went to the University of Nairobi. We were intending to have some lectures at the University of Nairobi. The dons there could not guarantee me the possibilities of lecturing at the University simply because the authorities now fear the Opposition. That is what used to happen when I was teaching at the University in the late 1970s. I remember one day when the police came to pick me up at 5.30 a.m. They collected four cartons of books so as to take me to a police station and prove that I was teaching Marxism at the University of Nairobi. Among the cartons of books they took away, there were two interesting books. One was titled, \"Why Men Rebel\" . It is a very conservative book authored by Tedd Robert Garr, an American sociologist. The other one, authored by Edgar Snow, was titled, \"Red Star OverChina\" . This one was purely about the history of China after the revolution. Now, to the police, these two books were very important Marxist books. This is how they must have thought: \"Since one is called \"Red Star Over China\" then it must be Marxist because of the word \"Red\". The one titled \"Why Men Rebel\" must be the one this man uses to teach rebellion at the University of Nairobi.\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is what drove away a lot of university dons from the University of Nairobi and others to the extent that the teaching of social sciences at the university level suffered a tragedy. It is that kind of fear of information and spread of knowledge that hampers development and the maturing of our people as a democracy. We know that democracy thrives best in an atmosphere of trust, openness and accountability. It is trust between the governors and the governed; among the governors themselves; and trust between the governmental institutions and the public. Where there is no trust, there cannot be a free flow of information and where there is no trust, corruption will thrive and survive. Corruption is pegged to the lack of openness. At the moment, we have two very important initiatives at the local government level. They are the Local Authorities Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP) and the Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF). These are extremely important initiatives of transferring funds to the local level. However, even among Members of Parliament, there is very little information as to how these funds operate. LASDAP assumes that, at the local level, there will be participation and sharing of information by the local people so that, through 2988 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 18, 2006 participation, they can be aware of the available resources and use them for purposes of serving the public interest at the local level. But local authorities have not been compelled to give this information out and create avenues of participation. Up to this very day, there is very little information available at the local level and effectivenessin the use of these resources. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, people know more about the CDF, for example, because of more openness in discussing issues related to CDF. That is even why when iniquities are exposed we feel good because it will improve performance. For the public to participate in local governance, there must be free flow of information. The information must be timely, relevant, accurate and complete for it to be used effectively. Information that does not come out in time and in a relevant manner cannot be used effectively. Take the example of the Budget. It comes when it is tailor-made to be passed. Members of Parliament cannot, therefore, have effective input into it. So, this law will be very important in improving governance in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move and ask hon. Omingo to second the Motion."
}