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{
    "id": 504047,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/504047/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 121,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Keynan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 41,
        "legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
        "slug": "adan-keynan"
    },
    "content": "with their professions, either as still prospective politicians or now go back to their professions. If you were in business, you go back to your business. If you were in a certain profession, you get back there. However, in the Kenyan scenario that does not apply. If you were a lawyer, you will not get a client I can assure you, if you are a former Member of Parliament. If you are a doctor you will not get clients. If you are a financial person, you will not get clients simply because there is suspicion. There is that hanging suspicion on the former Member of Parliament. What I have tried to do in this Bill is to demystify and create an acceptable niche for the former Member of Parliament. Therefore, what the Bill intends to do as an Act of Parliament is to make provision for the establishment of a Parliamentary Society of Kenya to provide for the participation of former Members of Parliament in the promotion of ideals of parliamentary democracy and to promote networking among former Members of Parliament to facilitate their integration into the professional life and for connected purposes. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you know we were together in the last Parliament and we were the persons who stood firm on the issue of members’ welfare. You know we were called all sorts of names. The other time when we were here, one of the reasons that informed the formation of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) in 1999, and I want to repeat this just for the sake of it, was to make sure that the serving Members of Parliament remained independent from any other consideration and remained alive to their work as the elected representatives of the people of Kenya and as national leaders. This is why at times I ask myself: Do people really understand the unique nature of the Parliamentary Service Commission as the only politically centered, politically oriented and politically placed constitutional commission under the 2010 Constitution? This is why in every aspect when we look at it, the PSC must be seen in that unique perspective and its role is a welfare commission. Therefore, the Memorandum and Objects of this Bill is to provide a legal framework through which former Members of Parliament can be integrated into the society so that they can play a critical role in advancing the interests of their constituents. You were there yesterday. Somebody else took over from you and there is every probability that you will also be there tomorrow and, therefore, in that line that Member is still connected to that particular area of representation. Again, they are connected to their parties and as such exercise oversight on other State organs. There exists no legal framework which can be used to rescue Members who find themselves in a prospect of having to be out of Parliament when they are still young, when maybe professionally they are not prepared or maybe financially they did not have adequate mechanism to fend for themselves. This reality has affected their lives. As groups, we have the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). We have a society that deals with issues affecting accountants. We have a society that deals with issues that affect medical practitioners. How comes politicians have been left out without any proper mechanism to take care of their welfare? It is because of this that most Members of Parliament abandon their careers. I want to remind Members of one famous Professor Omondi Muga. He has been one of the best environmentalists in the Republic of Kenya and one time he was one of the most adored professors in the University of Nairobi (UoN). He joined politics. He was elected 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."
}