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{
    "id": 416021,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/416021/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 337,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. H.K. Njuguna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1508,
        "legal_name": "Humphrey Kimani Njuguna",
        "slug": "humphrey-kimani-njuguna"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. In principle, I am supporting this Bill and I will be brief. But before I raise my points, I want to comfort the hon. Member for Othaya Constituency, having gone through an election petition. We all know what it means to lose an election, particularly when we talk about inconsistencies in the court rulings. Therefore, just like the other hon. Members of this august House said, I will urge hon. Wambui to take solace in God. I know you will win because you are very popular in this country because of the things you have done for the Kenyan people. We will be with you and do not worry. We will stand united. Now, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) is not just a busy body taking cognizance of the role it has played in the past, particularly in terms of democratization space. I remember in the 1990s, it was the sole opposition party. Therefore, in terms of looking at the core values of this Society and the rule of law which basically guides humanity; for me taking cognizance that lawyers are being guided by an Act of Parliament that was enacted in 1948, a lot has happened since then and it is continuing to happen. Therefore, the way I see it, it is an attempt to re-organize the profession taking cognizance of the dynamics that our society has gone through both locally, regionally and globally. With regard to this re-organization, while listening to various hon. Members who have contributed and looking at the Bill, it touches on access to justice, like when we say that a lot of people are not able to access justice; either because it is very expense or the courts are not there in most of the regions. While interrogating this Bill, there is an attempt to make sure that all regions in this country have high court or other courts. Therefore, to me access to justice is cardinal in the promotion of the rule of law. This Bill is an attempt to promote access to justice to all Kenyan. I have looked at the issue of competitive elections. If we are going to have a society that is going to deliver justice anywhere, then we must encourage transparency, accountability and competitive elections. I would like to congratulate the LSK in their recently concluded elections because they are setting a benchmark even to other professions. So, towards that end, I support this Bill. Looking at the Act, there is an attempt to provide pro bono legal services to those people who might not be able to afford it financially. We do agree that many people think that lawyers are very expensive. Professional services are expensive. In fact, I was checking the meaning of the word “profession” as we were debating. For me, profession comes from the word “profess”, we are almost telling the faith in that profession. Therefore, here it is the faith or the rule of law. As much as we might say it is expensive, when the Bill makes an attempt to provide"
}