HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 47741,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/47741/?format=api",
"text_counter": 284,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M. Kilonzo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 47,
"legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo",
"slug": "mutula-kilonzo"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you have just put yourself in the history books. This is such a fundamental law for this country. People can easily think that merely because in this House we are debating as usual, and exchanging views as usual--- One may easily forget that quite apart from the Constitution that His Excellency the President promulgated last year on the 27th of August there is a law that is yet to come, the Supreme Court law; I am happy to say that it is now on its way to the Cabinet, probably next week. This is one of the most important laws this country will have passed since Independence. It is what is normally called in history, the crossing of a Rubicon. I want to salute you Sir, for the manner in which this debate has been conducted by yourself, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker. No less than 47 hon. Members of Parliament have spoken on it, one after the other without interruption. My Ministry has adopted the approach that the more people we hear, the more we learn, the better we will be able to serve the country in producing this law. I want to salute you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for ensuring that it was not a matter of somebody moving a Motion, that I be called upon to respond, but rather the House exhausted debate. Again, I believe that is a milestone in our countryâs history. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to speak at the very outset on the question of the Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. I want to say this without fear, the Grand Coalition Government, particularly the Principals cannot hide under your cover. Arising from the ruling that the Chair made yesterday, without appearing to be criticizing it or objecting to it, I still believe that the solution was and ought to have come out of political management. The Grand Coalition Government is in charge of 40 million people. This Committee is comprised of only 11 people. If we cannot manage 11 committee members, how then can we manage the 40 million people? I think that the enormous reality is that the importance of this Committee has not yet dawned upon the Coalition Government. After this law is passed, I will be bringing to this House the Political Parties Bill. I will also be bringing to this House, with the support of the Minister for Lands and the Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources and the Minister for Labour, two statutes. One will deal with a special court under Article 152, which is on environment and a special court to deal with employment. In addition, certainly I am sure that by the end of next week I will have received Cabinet approval to publish the Supreme Court law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in addition, on Monday I will receive recommendations from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) and stakeholders on the issue of the anti-corruption law, integrity law and the rest. The Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs is no ordinary committee when it comes to implementation of the Constitution. You will remember, because you know me only too well, that I am not a flatterer; I do not like flattering men because all of us have weaknesses. However, I salute and recognize the passion that Mr. Baiya, Mr. Kabando wa Kabando and others have shown and demanded for the independence of this commission. That independence cannot be assured if the work of my Ministry is yet again going to be interrogated by my fellow Ministers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with complete respect to your office, and while acknowledging the importance of the ruling made, it is essential to know that the oversight committee has very different functions from those of the Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. I was expecting that I would enjoy the services of men and women I have come to recognize and respect a great deal in those Committees. Allow me to say this, when we formed these committees I was personally in support of the leadership of these two committees, because of the overwhelming work and excellence that Mr. Abdikadir and Mr. Namwamba demonstrated to this country during the just ended Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution. I was extremely pleased to see Mr. Abdikadir heading the oversight committee and Mr. Namwamba heading the legal committee. This country must recognize quality when it has it. Whilst I do not hold brief for those men, it is fair that, as the Minister responsible for this for the last two years, that the country knows that I have come to recognize and respect the institutional memory that those two extremely able young lawyers have, and commitment that they have shown to the country. Therefore, I want to call upon the Grand Coalition Government and the Principals to allow a meeting of the Grand Coalition Management Committee, so that we can solve this problem, and so that we do not lose the benefit between now and August of the enormous experience and knowledge of why we put certain provisions in the Constitution during the Naivasha negotiations; the work of the Committee of Experts (CoE). We should not lose either one or both of these able young men. They are hon. Members, but compared to me they are young but very able men. Therefore, this is a plea to the country; please learn to accept quality when you see it. Please, learn to forget. The issues that split this committee were related to the recent nominations by His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister to certain constitutional offices. Notwithstanding that those two leaders had taken some action, they have turned around and accepted the mood of the country, and the interviews of those positions are ongoing. The country has moved forward. For us to continue being stuck in the mud of the origination of that debate is unfair. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me, therefore, now to very briefly deal with some of the issues raised by hon. Members. The first one is that we appear to have forgotten that Article 250 provides that--- Allow me to quote it . Article 250 (6) (a) says:- âUnless ex-officio, shall be appointed for a single term of six years and is not eligible for re-appointmentâ All of us seem to have forgotten that we are going to have an election next year. We also appear to have forgotten that in exactly five years thereafter we will have another election in 2017. The effect of it is that once we appoint---"
}