Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 492853,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/492853/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 160,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "I also think that it is wrong to hide behind the misunderstanding of the operations of Parliament and its Committees to address Members and the Speaker in a condescending manner, as has been done from some quarters. Hon. Speaker, I have seen it here before and I want to say it again that there is no school or university which teaches experience. It is something that you earn on account of doing what you are doing over the passage of time. Therefore, it is utter vanity for anybody to claim to be an expert at something they know nothing about. I find it superfluous for Mr. Nyachae, for instance, to claim to be an expert on the functions of oversight and representation when the fact is that in his life, he has never even been elected a councillor. However, if there are some problems with our Constitution, I think one of them has to be the manner in which Cabinet Secretaries are appointed. I think the idea of the President nominating Cabinet Secretaries and then Committees of the House to vet them and bring them here overlooks certain very important aspects. If you saw the performance of hon. Charity Ngilu clearly, she was drawing from her past experience as a representative of the people. Therefore, I think as we embark on this exercise, perhaps the bigger question to ask is, indeed, why or what will be very wrong if Cabinet Secretaries sat in this House as Members of Parliament? Hon. Speaker, I think the other problem with our Constitution is that it has created offices – and I have said this before – which are littered with overpaid and badly underworked individuals. Some of these individuals are paid millions of shillings per month for doing absolutely nothing. Nothing can change that. When you are doing nothing, you are doing nothing. It does not matter even if you form the habit of occasionally taking full page newspaper adverts of lyrical recitals if nothing meaningful is lifted directly from the Constitution. As I conclude, I want to say that it is not personal but sometimes the conduct of these Commissioners, particularly Mr. Nyachae makes him look like he considers himself the Governor-General of Kenya. I think someone has to tell him that he is not the Governor-General of the Republic of Kenya and I choose to be that someone. Hon. Speaker, I thank you with those remarks."
}