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{
    "id": 460589,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/460589/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 409,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chepkonga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1154,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kiprono Chepkonga",
        "slug": "samuel-kiprono-chepkonga"
    },
    "content": "While addressing the Members, you said:- “Hon. Members, this concept of comity between the Judiciary and the Legislature is the very core that separates the two institutions and which we must all jealously protect and respect”. The Judicial Service Commission is established pursuant to Articles 172 and 173 of the Constitution. The JSC is established within the limits and confines of the Constitution and the Commissioners retain their positions as Commissioners who sit in it. The Constitution places the JSC in the same pedal and footing as that of other constitutional Commissions, namely, the IEBC, the Parliamentary Service Commission, the National LandsCommission and all other Commissions established under Article 15 of the Constitution as mentioned. The JSC does not exercise judical authority as its power is reserved for courts and tribunals and Committees of Parliament which have the same powers as that of the High Court. The Judiciary consists only of judges and magistrates and do not earn sitting allowances. They do not travel out of the country on fact-finding missions. They do not hear complaints against their colleagues. The judges and magistrates who sit in the JSC do not sit as judges and magistrates, but as commissioners like any other commissioner, including the Attorney-General and all others that are appointed and are not members of the bench. The JSC is not a body or an arm of the Government, but an administrative body of the Judiciary. So, the two of them are totally separate and independent. The Constitution bestows Parliament the power to promote democractic governance to represent people and special interests, to deliberate and resolve issues of concern to people and to exercise sovereignty as elected representatives of the people. Every person has a right to petition Parliament to consider any matter within its authority. Like any other constitutional Commission, the JSC is not subject to direct or control of any person or authority, but it remains accountable to the people of Kenya through Parliament. Parliament through its Committees has power under Article 125 of the Constitution to summon any person to appear before them for purposes of giving evidence or providing information, including the JSC members. The ruling of the Speaker recently, as I have just read it, states very clearly that no person, pursuant to Artifle 125 of the Constitution, can refuse to appear before a Committee of Parliament. The Standing Order No.230(4) provides that once a petition has been committed to a particular or relevant Departmental Committee, that Committee has 14 days within which to table its report to the House. This Committee met, deliberated on the petition, invited views and memoranda from members of the public as required and tabled its report on Thursday last week. I would like to disabuse the notion created by some members of the public who have made some very disparaging remarks to the Members of this House. I read a report, with a lot of sadness, on Sunday in which one eminent scholar, I thought he was, purported to call Members dimwit. I decided to go the Queens English Dictionary just to confirm what a dimwhit is and it is somebody who is stupid and is slow in understanding. From the presentation I am making, I am sure nobody doubts the fact that I am not slow in understanding. The person who wrote that, unfortunately, happens to be a lawyer. Having 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."
}