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{
    "id": 29216,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/29216/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 930,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Midiwo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 184,
        "legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
        "slug": "jakoyo-midiwo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. It is interesting that we are discussing this Bill on a very eventful day as regards to the functionality of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. This Bill could not have come at a better time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the reason as to why I have been standing at night to get a chance to contribute is because I want to go on record that the Kenya Anti- Corruption Commission (KACC) and its Director are rogue and are misbehaving. It is very important that we be in a position to employ Kenyans who understand their jobs, especially if they are of big magnitude. This is not a job which commissioners are doing for free. They are doing it at a cost to the taxpayers. So, I want to suggest that this Bill must give the Board some powers to control the Director. That person must be controlled and must be controlled with sweeping powers, so that if they one day happen to be rogue, they are removed on the following day. It is sad that the work of the KACC has turned into the work of policing the CDF, Members of Parliament and Ministers. There are so many big corruption cases in this country. During the time I have been in Parliament, operations of the CDF have improved so much that we should be seeing chief officers of CDF being arrested, and not Members of Parliament being accused of corruption but without anybody being arrested. It is one thing to fight corruption and another thing to use that position to scare us. We cannot be scared. We are lawmakers. They are not. Some of those people have tried to come here, in vain. So, it is very important to make this point at this point in time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to agree with hon. Mbadi that the commissions are becoming too many and their numbers are too big. This is one Commission which, with a good board, could do with one commissioner. The Bill provides for at least three commissioners, which is also a good number. It will have a secretariat. So, the work of the commissioners will just be policy, and not setting up a sting for a Member of Parliament. Some of the things they are doing are really lowering the dignity of the fight against corruption. I want to say that as Parliament, we have an opportune moment. We know that the work of the commissioners is saved in the transitional clauses of the new Constitution, but we must vet them to establish their character. I want to disagree with the person who said that we must protect the staff members of this Commission without vetting them. The staff members of this Commission are police officers from the police force we are trying to run away from. They are the agents and the custodians of the cooked up investigations. They are the Commission. This is a political Commission. Look at its history. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, anybody who works there, right from the sweeper to the Director, must be vetted afresh in accordance with the new dawn that is in this country. We cannot change the commissioners and leave the staff members, because they are policemen from the police force, which we have just passed a Bill to reform. This is not any other Commission. Therefore, I want to plead with this House that we agree to sweep this Commission clean through vetting for the sake of this country. We need to re-direct its attitude. With those remarks, I beg to support the Bill, and promise coming amendments."
}