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{
    "id": 370880,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/370880/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 349,
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    "content": "award of compensation to Mak’Onyango. I want to confirm here that people who have suffered human rights atrocities and general abuses of human rights have never been compensated. This country had a bad regime which disregarded human rights of her citizens. There were general abuses of human rights. What is more painful is that these people had been tortured and maimed. Psychologically, they have been traumatized. They have been socially excluded from their communities by the State. The compensation was intended to allow those people to recover from the abuses they suffered, settle down and start new lives. This award was also intended to punish the State, including individuals who perpetuated human rights abuses. When the State fails to enforce payment of such awards, the victims continue to suffer. If you look at Mak’Onyango’s claim, you will appreciate that it is for abuses he suffered in the 1980s and the 1990s. That is over 30 years ago but, up to now, he has not been compensated. We need to restore confidence in this country, in terms of enforcing decisions awarded by our law courts and other institutions. This country has a bad precedent in terms of ignoring the law. The laws are sometimes regarded irrelevant. I am, therefore, appealing to this House to enforce payment of awards by the courts to individuals who have suffered decades of human rights abuses in order to comfort them, so that they can also access medical care. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the other matter I would like to support is that raised by hon. Ibrahim Abdi Saney. This is a very unfortunate case. It is always neglected because it involves some women who were supposed to benefit from the appointments. If you look at the rulings and the legal discussions around this case, you will appreciate that there were two ladies and a gentleman who would have been appointed after two wise rejections of the names from the selection panel. This country might be in record for ignoring and disregarding laws, including the Teachers Service Commission Act, which states clearly that once names presented to the National Assembly for approval are rejected by the Assembly, if there is a list of other persons that have the same merit, the selection panel should pick the next set of names from that list, so that they can be forwarded to the National Assembly for approval and subsequent appointment by the President. In this case, the Government disregarded the law. As a Member of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, I want to confirm that the Attorney-General said that the Government has been instructed, through his legal advice, to pick up the next set of names from the list of the selection panel. In this case, there are two ladies and a gentleman who qualify for appointment. What the Government has done, because it is disrespecting the laws and the advice from the Attorney-General, is to advertise fresh names including the ones which were to be appointed. This is meant to deny individuals who have merit from benefiting from these appointments. I want this august House to restore sanity in terms of respect for the law. The panel should recommend those names which were in its previous list so that the appointment can be made in order for them to start working at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) as commissioners."
}