HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 307273,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/307273/?format=api",
"text_counter": 316,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think the hon. Members have spoken to the issue of police powers; that this body should not have any, because we know the past of this country. Also, because we are moving towards specialization, there is no reason they should have police powers, when we also have a body that has similar powers. So, you would want to avoid conflicts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, secondly, on the issue of the Bill of Rights and limitations, the way that the limitations are proposed is not as per Article 24 of the Constitution. They derogate from core rights. So, I would also want us to look at that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue is vetting of the officers. Since we are looking at renewal, everybody has come in with new people whom we are vetting, and there is no reason we should have a different standard. Again, I would want to agree with the hon. Member who has spoken on funding; that this is a body that we do not want to give funding by outsiders. It should be from Kenyan coffers. Also, on the issue of one-line budget which has been the practice, I do not think that we should legalize it. This is because even if we want to give broad budget lines, we need to know what they are doing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, more specifically, I want to speak to Clause 2, on definitions, especially whether or not we should remove the police powers. Should we not remove them, then we must define what “clandestine” and “deceptive” is. I am also uncomfortable with Clause 2(1)(ii). Some of the activities include activities that are for purposes of affecting socioeconomic, political or Governmental processes. That means that we would be outlawing all activities by most development Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, again, if they have police powers, we must by law define what espionage is, sabotage, subversion and terrorism means. Otherwise, that is an era that Kenyans have come away from. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, again, because we are moving forward, we must be cognizant of the fact that we have a Coalition Government right now and the issue of transition must be acknowledged. Therefore, even in terms of appointments and compositions, we must acknowledge that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would want to indicate that one of the powers that have been given to these bodies in Clause 5 is to undertaken security of vettable persons. I am very uncomfortable with that because these bodies tend to abuse such powers. Indeed, there is a desperate young lady who had been looking for me and finally found me. She was complaining about a prominent lawyer who has used the same body on a very simple matter. He has made this girl who he was cohabiting with pregnant. He has used this body to go and get all evidence that shows they were in a relationship away from her. He has used this body to remove all the photos and everything and bring up trumped up charges against this young girl. Now, she is actually facing a criminal charge, simply because this person does not want to take care of his baby. If you give this body these powers by law, then these are the kinds of things that you will be seeing them doing. If they are already abusing their powers without the law, you cannot give them the law to continue abusing members of the public."
}