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{
    "id": 416057,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/416057/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 373,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Wahome",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1700,
        "legal_name": "Alice Muthoni Wahome",
        "slug": "alice-muthoni-wahome"
    },
    "content": "I want to start with the concerns that I have. My daughter was admitted to the Bar on 23rd January, 2013. I was walking along with her as she was at the Kenya School of Law (KSL). There are concerns raised by Members in respect of fees. I suffered that bit of experience. You can imagine. If I was feeling the pinch, what about ordinary Kenyans? The LSK needs to pick up that issue very quickly, if we are going to access justice. I believe that the number of lawyers that we have in this country is still not sufficient, considering that the population is increasing. I do not remember her exact number but it was in the range of 10,000. So, we are still below the necessary number that is required to meet the legal service requirements of this country. Therefore by levying huge bills of Kshs200,000, we are losing it. We are commercialising an institution that was not meant to be a commercial entity. You can imagine that even today there are undergraduate students at the university, who are also paying fees. So, we need to re-think the funding of the KSL very quickly. The LSK can assist the Government in coming up with necessary recommendations, considering the functions and the objects they are formed for. In order to advise the Government, they need to quickly pick up this. I want to congratulate the Law Society of Kenya for the recent elections that I participated in. I quite do not agree with the sentiments that have been expressed, or the accusations against the IEBC that they need to go. We must start thinking about the institutions when they fail once in a while not to condemn. If you look at the way those elections were conducted – of course they are not political elections – we must also support some of these institutions. Therefore, I think hon. Millie Odhiambo should start changing her mind in terms of the IEBC and that we need to fix the IEBC as we approach the next elections. I have seen celebrations from both CORD and Jubilee because of the successful by-elections conducted by the same body. We, therefore, need to think about how we can support the body and come up with proposed amendments regarding the Elections Act. For example, I would want to see us coming up with a Bill that will talk to the issue of the two-thirds gender principle in respect of Article 81. The Law Society of Kenya as a guiding organization has been misunderstood and it really should take up some of these issues. I am happy with the proposal that if the Chairperson is of one gender then the Vice-chairperson should be of the opposite gender. I think that is a very welcome proposal. I listened to the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs saying that those are some of the amendments they would want to bring to this Bill. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you may have watched some of the debates during the campaigns. I think that the Law Society of Kenya may have suffered some damage in terms of image because of some of those things that they were speaking to the members when they were appealing for votes. There is need for the Law Society of Kenya to rethink even about the campaigns. Originally and when we were serving at the Council – I have served in the board of the Law Society of Kenya – our campaigns were different. We were campaigning on real issues and the campaigns were never nasty. It is time we asked the Law Society of Kenya to be moderate even as we think of how to come up with the officer bearer posts. Maybe the regulations could deal with some of those things that were coming up, that is, issues and accusations regarding the spending The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}