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{
    "id": 462426,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/462426/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 242,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "of that Committee. But is it enforceable or possible? We have more than 20 committees. If you actually decide that we will not talk on anything being discussed by committee, then we cannot talk about anything! Right now the Departmental Committee on Energy, Communication and Information is talking about coal. If I discuss coal on television tomorrow, I will be on the wrong. The Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs is discussing a certain matter; we are discussing taxation in the Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade. And when you say about substance; what else do you discuss, apart from substance of an issue? Hon. Members were going out there but they were not saying that VAT is bad, they were saying VAT will raise the prices and will do such and such. So, really, that Standing Order should be interpreted correctly. It is offensive for the whole reason of having a Parliament that is supposed to represent the voices of the people. The only reason why we are 349 Members of Parliament is because 40 million Kenyans cannot be here. So, there is a matter that is of interest to Kenyans and the reason why we have representation. As representatives of the people, we must be allowed to discuss that. So, in my reading of that provision, I think it relates to hon. Members of that Committee, but not really the substance because everything we discuss is substance. Secondly, on the issue raised by hon. Ochieng, I think Parliament must play its rightful role. When the Standing Orders speak about “to investigate and inquire into a matter,” we must understand that in the right context. We cannot say that we will only look at areas within our individual and hence collective competences. Hon. Speaker, I think you remember the many hon. Members in the Tenth Parliament. In the year 2009 or 2010; I was called by the Tenth Parliament because it was investigating how do deal with the issue of delimitation of boundaries and how to redraw constituency boundaries. If Parliament had an attitude that it has no competences to deal with the issue of boundaries, we would not have Article 89 as we do right now. So, this House should not shy away from dealing with issues because that specific competence does not exist. If we look at issues, for example, the issue of security or we want to play an oversight role on the Judiciary, I think we must understand clearly that, yes, there is separation of powers. Parliament cannot determine whether the Judiciary has ruled correctly or wrongly on a matter because that is breaching that separation. But Parliament can, in playing its oversight role, discuss whether the administration or the conduct of that particular office is being run in line with the Constitution. Hon. Speaker, in the same manner, when you look at the Westgate Mall issue, Parliament is not trying to say whether those people were Al Shabaab men or they were from Eastleigh; who was shot or how many were not shot. Parliament can investigate because it provides the budget and appropriates for those agencies. It can investigate the matter in which certain agencies have conducted investigations, but not the content or the findings of their work. This is because even in the separation of powers, you do not allocate responsibilities of one entity to another. So, I would just like to appeal to hon. Members that let us not shy away from our responsibilities. Let us also not gag ourselves because if we say that we will not talk about something being discussed by a Committee, we will not talk about anything. If I go to 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."
}