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{
    "id": 501385,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/501385/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Sunjeev",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13136,
        "legal_name": "Sunjeev Kour Birdi",
        "slug": "sunjeev-kour-birdi"
    },
    "content": "From the outset, I must say that this Bill was supposed to have been brought to the Floor of the House like not yesterday; it should have come here long time ago, or at least ten years ago. This is because this Bill is basically on the responsibilities that public servants should be performing to citizens, who spent their time voting in the year 2013 for leaders. Basically, we owe it to the citizens of our country to pass this Bill. I would also like to say, having heard from everybody else, that this Bill will regulate professions of the civil servants, that is very important because we need professionals who are ethical. We do not want to have people who are going to manipulate the views of the citizens of this country. I applaud the system of complaints that the Bill has put in place. I would also like to say that public officers who are going to be using resources--- It is very important that those resources are used in an ethical and value-based manner. This is because at the end of the day, the Bill will curb one of the biggest problems that we have in our country, namely corruption. I understand that part of this Bill does not look into levels of corruption, but it brings into mind--- Job security is one of the most important things for citizens, and we also cannot rule out corruption.We cannot say that corruption is in line with accountability and transparency. Providing service promptly to our citizens is very important. I can cite an example of some business communities in Embakasi who have been waiting since 2007 to know the status of the road in the area. Since 2007, they have been writing complaints that have not received any sort of attention. This Bill is going to work for the benefit of such citizens, who have, for ages and ages, been working to sort out the facility that they are logically entitled to. This particular Bill is very welcome. We need to offer promotions on the basis of competitiveness, gender and disablity. I am also happy that this register is going to be provided to the President, Parliament and the governors. It puts in place a system of checks. Everybody should know which Public Service organization is pulling up their socks and which one needs to work harder. Sometimes, it is not a law that is required to sort out a situation. Sometimes, we just need good people doing the work that they are required to do. In our country’s case, no matter how much you put laws and slap laws on people, unless we have good citizens doing their job, we will just be defeating the purpose of putting a law after a law. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves, as citizens, how we got to the state where we have to put a law over a law just to check on the accountability of a person. This is the message that is going out to everybody. That if you have been given a job in the Public Service, then you must do it to the best of your ability. You are not doing anybody a favour. You have been elected by people, you got a job to do and you better do it properly. Therefore, this Bill is definitely going to check on the behavior of these public servants. Sometimes when we talk about laws that are brought haphazardly, it works against the happiness of the citizens. Just recently before the speed checks were set up in Nairobi, it brought up a lot of problems for people because they had not been notified that from the next day, they were going to be driving at 50 kilometers per hour on a particular road. Before this was brought out to the public, people were extremely frustrated. That frustration led to people underperforming their duties. Citizens should not use this Bill or privilege to bring out their malicious side. I want to clarify what I am saying. 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."
}