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{
    "id": 319200,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/319200/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 435,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "South Africa, Ghana and India. They have one Deputy Governor as a member of their respective boards. This is in line with the balancing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is an amendment on the chairperson on Clause 12(1)(b). It says the chairperson shall preside over all the meetings of the board. Of course, it is very prudent to have the board appoint a vice-chair in their first meeting who shall not be of the same gender as the chair who will be appointed by the President, with approval of House. Again, this is what we have been doing in terms of appointments where if we have a chair who is a man, then we must have a room for a vice-chair from a different gender. This has been left out. Of course, the vice-chair will be chairing the board meetings in the absence of the chairperson. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 12(1) is on quorum of board meetings. It says the quorum will be five and must be constituted by the chairperson, Governor and three Directors. The quorum of five is acceptable. I agree with the suggestion that the chair shall be the Governor. In my amendment, I want to make the Governor and the deputy always to be in board meetings. This Bill seeks to introduce Clause 12(1)(c) that provides for the non-executive directors to elect one of them to preside at all meetings of the board until a chair is elected. That is the amendment the Minister wants to bring. Again, the spirit of his amendment prohibits the Governor from chairing board meetings. The Governor should be allowed to chair board meetings until such a time when the President appoints a substantive chair, with the approval of Parliament. We are talking about a situation where there will be a vacuum in terms of the chair. So, we are asking that the Governor be allowed to chair the board meeting until the President appoints a substantive chair, with the approval of Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, very fundamentally again in this amendment, which I think is within the purview of the Constitution, the Governor is to be appointed by the President through a transparent and competitive process and with the approval of Parliament. He is to hold office for a four year term and is eligible for re- appointment for a further term. I think the law on the appointment both in the Constitution and with this amendment is welcome. I support it for the first time. We want to drive this country away from where a very competitive, qualified Kenyan is appointed as Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and by default he happens to come from the region where the President comes from, but those who claim that there are biases do not want to look at the CV and qualification of this Kenyan. So, I think this amendment, pursuant to Section 11(1) is welcome. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is Clause 13(b) that says there shall be two Deputy Governors who shall be appointed by the President through competitive and transparent process and, again, with the approval of Parliament for a four year term. They shall be eligible for re-appointment for one further four year term. They shall perform such functions, as the Governor may design and the board shall appoint one of the Deputy Governors to act in case of the absence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Deputy Governors shall be appointed by the President through a competitive and transparent process and approved by Parliament, there is a need to exercise executive authority and hence be retained as members of the board. This comes in if the two Deputy Governors will be subjected to the same due diligence process of the Governor; in terms of competitive and transparent"
}