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{
    "id": 416027,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/416027/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 343,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Kanyua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 981,
        "legal_name": "Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua",
        "slug": "priscilla-nyokabi-kanyua"
    },
    "content": "revamped. The Law Society of Kenya that we have now, like many of us, falls into the trap of passing another law every other time that we have an issue. If you look at our Constitution now, we are not even looking at why we passed that Constitution in terms of moving this society forward. We have become trapped in legalities, names, that is, who is going to be called a Senator or a county MP, which is a bigger House and which one is a smaller House and so on. We forget that we were passing the Constitution so that we can open up the economy and other areas. The Law Society of Kenya must take up its rightful mantle in terms of shaping those conversations. I think that with the passage of this law, it will allow us to look at the society differently; a law society that does not encourage litigation in terms of solving cases and disputes. Even somebody who loses a phone worth Kshs3,000 or Kshs4,000 and goes to a lawyer, instead of getting a lawyer who tells him, “My friend, we may not need to go to court on this matter”, you have a lawyer who will go to court on every single matter even matters that need not really be disputes before the court. The law society that we are going to be looking at after the passage of this law is a law society of lawyers who are members of a profession who want to guide the society on how it moves forward. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I wind up, allow me to thank, congratulate and appreciate the work done by pro bono lawyers. I spend a lot of time serving poor people of this country. Actually, I was made to think that that work does not pay until I went to Nyeri County and I was elected on the basis only of having protected poor people. So, I think that there is value in being a pro bono lawyer. There is value in being a public lawyer. I even think that it is regrettable that the Law Society of Kenya continues to mark those of us in this Parliament as inactive while we actively pass legislation every day. The lawyers who are in public law need to be appreciated. This Bill is going to have an amendment that allows recognition of lawyers who are doing pro bono work. These are lawyers like those serving in my old organization, Kituo Cha Sheria. I think that they deserve other incentives so that they can continue to represent the Society and other members of the Law Society of Kenya who may not be offering pro bono services."
}