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"id": 38104,
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"speaker_name": "Eng. Gumbo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Report is a product of investigations by the House Broadcasting Committee, as directed by the Speaker, on the interference of the proceedings of the House, which occurred on three separate occasions during the Afternoon Sitting on Thursday 28th April, 2011, between 4.26 p.m. and 5.14 p.m. During the Sitting of Thursday 28th April, 2011, strange sounds intermittently interfered with the House proceedings. The external sound which was carried through the Chamber public address system made Members’ contributions to become inaudible. The sounds were distinct from the ongoing Chamber business and were audible and intelligible. The sounds would momentarily override Members’ contributions on the Floor of the House for a period of about 15 seconds. The interference occurred on three separate occasions, as indicated herewith. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at 4.26 p.m., the message which went through the Chamber Public Address System, which was not parliamentary debate, was:- “What the Equity customers will be for--- (inaudible) --- it is easy to persuade them to come. The power of persuading--- (inaudible).” At about 5.00 p.m. another message was heard which stated; “--- inaudible--- look at this but from treatment and behavior. The agency will look like that--- Do not worry about people. Do not care about the look of the premises. It is the way you treat them. Be humble, friendly so that the centre of it--- inaudible.” At 5.14 p.m. another message was also heard; “---inaudible and you can see the reason why. So then if you succeed here you can also succeed in Rwanda. So, please, help us because we do not want to do this training. Instead of people going to train in Tanzania, we want Tanzania---” Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Committee sought to establish the following. 1. The source of the strange sounds. 2. How the interfering sounds find their way into the Chamber’s public address system. 3. Actions to be taken to avoid a repeat and recurrence of similar situations in future. With regard to the source of the strange sounds, the Committee was supported by a technical committee formed by the Clerk of the National Assembly which:- (a) Reviewed the Parliamentary Broadcast Unit (PBU) and HANSARD recordings for the day and confirmed that the interference as noted above was recorded in both systems. (b) Reviewed news updates for the day and established that there had been an event organized by Equity Bank Limited at the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) which had been broadcast by various media houses. (c) Sourced for tape recordings from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) of the day’s proceedings of the event at KICC confirmed the event was, indeed, organized by Equity Bank Limited. (d) Reviewed the news content from various media houses and the tape recording from KBC on the Equity Bank Limited event established that the sound bytes recorded above may have, indeed, been the cause of the interference in the Chamber proceedings. The Committee, therefore, concluded that the interference emanated from the bank’s event at KICC. With regard to how the interfering sounds found their way into the Chamber, the Committee toured the Chamber and reviewed the findings of the technical team and established the following. (a) The Chamber public address system includes the mixer and the microphones - the hardwired and the cordless microphones which used to be here, but have since been discontinued. (b) The only possible input into the public address system in the microphones in the Chamber, that is, both the hardwired and cordless microphones. (c) The two cordless microphones; one for the Speaker and another for the Clerks- at-the-Table were on at the time the strange sounds were recorded. (d) Experiments and possible ways of sound interference were carried out by the Committee including walking with the cordless microphones to various locations within Parliament Buildings and also working with playback sounds from a mobile phone to both hardwired and cordless microphones. As a result of this experiment, the Committee found out that:- (i) Both the hardwired and the cordless microphones can pick sounds from any playback equipment when it is switched on and it is near the microphone. (ii) The reception range of the cordless microphone can be as far as the farthest corner of Parliament Grounds which is along Harambee Avenue. (iii) The inquiries into the public address system used at KICC on 28th April, 2011 during the Equity Bank Limited function were cordless microphone systems supplied by Pillar Limited. It is worth noting that Pillar Limited is the same company which supplied the cordless system in use at the National Assembly Chamber at the time. (d) The Committee sought technical assessment on the issue and was informed that the cordless system in use in the Chamber is an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) equipment. This kind of equipment when placed on a high elevation can send and receive communication signal within a radius of 500 metres; this is half-a-kilometre or more. Thus the cordless microphone does not guarantee privacy or security of the public address system network. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Committee made the following observations and conclusions guided by the above findings as indicated below. (i) Having established the sound bytes correlation with the events at KICC, the source of interference in the Chamber public address system was from the Equity Bank Limited event at the KICC. (ii) Having established that the cordless microphones can pick sounds from as far as 500 metres and that the frequencies used in the cordless microphones are not protected from interference (this is fundamental), the Committee concludes that the source of the interference in the Chamber public address system on that day; that is 28th April, 2011 in the afternoon sitting was from the cordless microphones used at the KICC that were picked by the cordless receiver in the Chamber. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, from the conclusions above the Committee recommends the following. (a) That the cordless microphones should only be used as a back-up system and that only wired microphones should be used in the Chamber. I want to reiterate that since that event, the cordless microphones that used to be here and at the Clerks-at-the-Table have since been discontinued and retired from service. (b) Parliament should install a mobile phone demobilizer in the Chamber which can disable mobile phones and other communicating devices that could interfere with the public address system. (c) As Parliament is installing various communication systems the Committee recommends that they be properly integrated and synchronized to avoid any interference that may arise now and in future. (d) The wired public address system is ageing, and I think this has been noted on many occasions, and, therefore, prone to failure and intermittent faults. It is the recommendation of the Committee, and a strong one, indeed, that this system should be considered for retirement and replacement with a more modern and functional system. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to move and ask Mr. Letimalo to second the Motion."
}