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{
    "id": 462388,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/462388/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 204,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Nyasuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 590,
        "legal_name": "Gladys Atieno Nyasuna",
        "slug": "gladys-atieno-nyasuna"
    },
    "content": "look forward to your ruling and that you will clarify the matters raised. On the matter raised by hon. Shebesh, as we have seen in the last two weeks, Members and particularly chairs of committees have been speaking out on issues that are under investigation. It ends up really embarrassing this House. It even ends up putting us in a very awkward place. We saw last week the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security saying that the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) soldiers did not loot and then later on, we saw pictures showing them carrying paper bags and now the Committee is reduced to the level of now investigating whether those were exhibits, bottles of water or phones inside there. That is not what the Committee was supposed to really be embarking on. Hon. Speaker, when this House adjourned after the Westgate attack, there were very difficult questions that were asked. We asked: Did the Intelligence do their work? These are questions that we are expecting answers to and not answers to what was in a paper bag somewhere. Hon. Speaker, Sir, that leads me to my second point on the point raised by hon. Ochieng. I am sure the Member is not saying that this House does not have power to investigate because that is clearly stated in the Constitution. What we are saying is: What is the scope of our investigations? We are leading to that as well. How far can we go? We cannot go to forensics or post-mortem to check whether the bodies that were found were truly those of terrorists. That is work that can be done by another institution. But what we are looking for are answers to those critical questions that we raised on the Floor of this House after the Westgate attack. When we adjourned, we asked: Did the Intelligence sleep on the job? Did the police not act on the information when they were given? Hon. Speaker, Sir, I think you will be advising in relation to when we embark on investigations as Committees of this House, is it then important to have very clear terms of reference, so that we are not going all over the place looking at what was in the paper bags which we cannot know."
}