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"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
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"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion very strongly. First of all, whereas I understand my colleagues on the other side when they say that creating new laws without reinforcing the existing institutions is not a solution to our problems, I do believe that this law is necessary. It is necessary because the Kenya Consumers Organization, which I happen to know very well and with which I had a lot to do in the 1980s and 1990s, does not really have a body to report to. The KEBS was established for the maintenance of standards. This is a much more restrictive issue than the issue of consumer protection. My honourable friend 2358 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 26, 2006 who spoke before me, from the Opposition side, mentioned that the issue of consumers goes beyond the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The issue of consumers embraces the whole of Government. We consume culture, information, goods and services. This cannot be a restriction to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. If anything, the appropriate Ministry that could look after this issue of consumer protection, is the Ministry of Planning and National Development. This is because the issue of consumers is of national development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when we talk about the proliferation of laws--- I will give a few examples from our law books. We have Cap.327 which is called \"The Grass Fires Act.\" We also have Cap.103 which is called \"The Fire Inquiries Act.\" These are two laws dealing with fire. Why do we need two laws dealing with fire? We also have Cap.332 which is called \"The Mombasa Shop Hours Act.\" Then we have Cap.231 which is called \"the Shop Hours Act.\" So, if it is a question of proliferation of laws, we already have this phenomenon in our law books. So, we cannot come to this House and say, as an excuse, that creating a law that creates a consumer protection board, is duplicating the work of the KEBS. Our law books always show that when this House comes across a problem in our society, its role is to make laws to deal with that problem. The society has never put any condition on Parliament on the number of laws that we have to make to deal with problems. So, we cannot be censors to our own responsibility in this House. So, I believe that a consumer protection law is extremely important. The manner in which we craft the Consumers Protection Board is a different matter. Indeed, we can make the KEBS the host organization for it. This is a matter that the Government can sit down and craft properly, so that duties and responsibilities are not duplicated. However, defending consumers' rights in this society is very important. When I worked with the Consumer Organization of Kenya (COK), when Mr. Francis Orago was the Chairman, whatever we did, we had no particular organization to report to that was concerned with consumers rights, except the Attorney-General's Chambers. In this country, we do not even have a public protector. In the Republic of South Africa, there is a public protector to whom they go to when they have such problems. Indeed, when we failed to establish a new constitution, which had relevant clauses to protect the public, we missed the opportunity. It provided for the establishment of the public protector. So, I do believe that what the Government should do is not to be defensive about establishing this law, but to do proper homework and tell this House exactly how this very necessary organization called the Consumer Protection Board will function. When the two Ministers say that this will duplicate the work of the KEBS, they do not tell us, in black and white, how it will do so. They stop at assertion. This House cannot deal with assertions. It must deal with the details of making law. The details of making law means the Minister coming to us and tell us exactly what part of the law that established the KEBS, deals with the protection of consumers. Indeed, what organization in this country consumers can report to when there are problems of consumption. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for example, today, people who own vehicles in this country have to pay an enormous sum of money for their maintenance because our roads are very bad. But whom do we report to? Which organization do we go to when we are paying so much money to repair our cars? There is none! If you are driving from town to the Windsor Golf Hotel, there is absolutely no sign on the road that shows you where Kiambu Road is. If you go up to Muthaiga Round-about, you can either choose to go to Thika or go to the Muthaiga Club. That is the junction where you should go to Windsor Golf Hotel from. However, there are no signs showing the direction to Windsor Golf Hotel. That is an issue of consumer protection. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are all these issues that have to do with protection of consumers that are not catered for in our law books. It is absurd for two Ministers to July 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2359 contribute to this Motion before first of all understanding the issue of consumption. Instead they went ahead to protect their turfs in terms of protecting duplication of law. It is a travesty in the responsibility of this House. It is extremely important that this House takes responsibility for making sure that, when we have a problem like this, in order for the Government to oppose the proposal, they must come up with an ocular proof that, indeed, what they are saying can stand the test of facts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another example is in the matter of medicine where Kenyans pay an enormous amount of money to buy pharmaceuticals. The cost of medicine in this country is extremely high. People have been dying in hospitals year in, year out. What organisation do they report to? Do they report to the Medical Association of Kenya, an association that protects people in the medical practice? In the medical world there are all kinds of boards that protect people in that kind of practice. There is the Nurses Act that tells us how nurses are hired and fired and so on. We have all kinds of laws that deal with medicine and medical practitioners. In the final analysis, they do not protect the interests of the consumer who consumes pharmaceuticals and other medical products. Therefore, wherever you look, whichever aspect of society you come into, you will find that there is an issue of consumption. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is the issue of consumption of space in this country. This deals with pollution, use of land and the use of infrastructure. When you find that there is tremendous pollution in this city, who do you report to? Is there any particular body that deals with this issue? None, unfortunately. We have a tremendous opportunity today, to have an omnibus law that will protect consumers wholesomely and not in a restrictive manner in which the Minister for Trade and Industry has been talking about. I hope the Minister for Trade and Industry will listen to me! I beg to support."
}