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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I respond to what they have spoken to, I want to remind the House about two incidences. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the early 1960s, the then President, Mzee Kenyatta, found that the national flag was being abused. He made a statement to the effect that the national flag is not a piece of clothe which can even be found hanging in a toilet. This statement is in the national archives. He said those words to show how serious the national flag is. Secondly, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the former Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Sally Kosgei, was threatened with sacking for whatever reasons during those difficult days of the Grand Coalition Government, she then told the country that the flag can be taken away by the then Prime Minister because, to her, the flag signifies nothing other than abuse of laws that allowed her to get through the traffic jam very quickly. This offended the whole country on two fronts; one, that even a Minister like herself could not have respect for the national flag. Two, without members of the public knowing, Ministers were using the flag to break traffic rules by going through the traffic jam very quickly. I want to assure Members that I will work with them to quickly introduce the proposed amendments. I am glad that this Bill has already gone through the Committee. So, it will move very quickly because the input of the Committee was put on board before we went for publishing. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Sen. Wamatangi raised an issue which I must consider at the Committee Stage, namely that when we shall be putting the order of precedence, we must make sure that elected officials take precedence over appointed officers. Since the same House supports those thoughts of Sen. Wamatangi, therefore, it means that in the pecking order which we had put, the Cabinet Secretaries will come after Governors, Senators and Members of the National Assembly in the order of precedence because they are appointed. The same Senator suggested that County Assembly Speakers should also be recognized. So, in this law, where we overlooked them, whereas we call the Speakers of the two Houses “Right Honourable,” Sen. Wamatangi suggested that we call the Speakers of County Assemblies “Honourable Speakers”. I heard this being supported by many Senators. So, this is an amendment that we can bring on board. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another thing that stood out is your contribution. You suggested three important points which we must carry in the amendments. You said titles should signify honour and not power. Those strong words mean that when we drop the words “His Excellency” from the titles of Governors, we will be reminding them that the title of “Governor” that we have given them is signifying the honour of the office of the Governor and that it is not supposed to signify the power of the Governor. Sen. Mong’are supported you by adding the following: that even the Governors of Queen Elizabeth and King George were never called “His Excellency.” They were just referred to as “Governors.” Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you also said that the number of escort vehicles that Governors use reminds voters of opulence in those counties. You said that the people’s representatives must not use abusive opulence. Therefore, there is need for us to cut down on the escort vehicles."
}