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{
"id": 382196,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/382196/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o",
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"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Motion. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my sister who has just spoken has made a point about that case involving the Mau Mau and the amount of money that the lawyers are taking from the compensation. I have gone through that kind of experience and know that when you get this kind of compensation through the courts, the lawyers take quite a substantial part of it to your utter amazement. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion is extremely important. I want to refer the House to the Pensions Act, Cap.189, Section 19A. It says:- “A dependant’s pension payable under the foregoing sections shall be paid to the dependants within a period of 90 days after the death of the officer concerned, failure to which interest shall accrue thereon at bank rates, until payment is made in full, provided that no interest shall be payable under this section, where the failure to pay is occasioned by legal proceedings in respect of payment.’ Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is where the problem is in the sense that the law says that dependants shall be paid within 90 days, but the onus is on the dependant to go and claim that money within 90 days. When they fail to get this money within those 90 days, they really have no recourse except to go to court or look for a lawyer, to urge the Government to pay this. Once you go to court and you are looking for this money, then there is a rider that in so far as there is a legal proceeding, if there is a delay, you will not get the interest. Now, you can stop going to court to look for your money and hope that when you are finally paid, you will be paid with interest. I want to dare this House to find out how many Kenyans have actually been paid with interest when they get that money. What the Government department concerned will do is state that it is not their mistake that the file was missing. So, ordinary citizens who actually do not know that something called Cap.189 exists are at the mercy of the system. What is being proposed here is a Bill that will implement Section 19(a) of the Pensions Act, called “payment of dependant pension”. This section was passed, but it did not include an institution that will implement that particular section. That is very characteristic of many laws in our country. The law exists, but implementers are not quite determinate as far as the ordinary human being is concerned. So, there is something indeterminate called the Government. When you go to a Government office and go to a particular section, you will be referred to human resources or to the legal section, but in the end, they come to a representative called a politician. That is why, we, as Members of Parliament, get a lot of letters from people looking for their dues. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}