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{
    "id": 511427,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/511427/?format=api",
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    "content": "Order, hon. Members. Hon. Members, I make this solemn Communication on the matter of lack of decorum and grossly disorderly conduct in the House in breach of our Standing Orders. Hon. Members, allow me to welcome you to this Special Sitting, which has been convened for the sole purpose of considering three matters important to our nation. As indicated in Kenya Gazette Notice No. 9021 of December 15, 2014, during today’s Sittings, we shall be considering two Special Motions; that is, the Motion for the Appointment of the Cabinet Secretary nominee for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government and the Motion for consideration of nominees to the Constituencies Development Fund Board. We are also scheduled to deliberate on the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014 at the Committee Stage and the Third Reading. However, you are all aware that debate in this House in the past week has not been as decorous as we all would desire. Our rules of debate have largely been breached. As your Speaker, I am equally concerned at the very fast degeneration in propriety of our conduct, manners and reference to each other in speeches. We have witnessed some Members creating disorder, using or threatening violence against colleagues and/or abusing their privileges. We have seen behaviour that has bordered on disrespect for the presiding officers during the proceedings in the Committee of the whole House and in the plenary. Some Members have, in the past week, exchanged insults in the most despicable of ways and even attempted to rough up their colleagues. Other Members even threatened to take away the Mace. This state of affairs, which is unacceptable, will surely erode public confidence and bring the institution of the National Assembly into disrepute. Honourable Members, one main duty of the presiding officers in the House is to maintain order and, if the rules are breached or the situation deteriorates, determine the requisite recourse for removal of a Member from the House for a certain period, or if the situation worsens, name and suspend the offending Member or Members from the House all together. I wish to appeal to you to familiarise yourselves with the provisions of the Standing Orders regarding rules of debate and order in the House, Committee of the whole House and, particularly, Standing Orders No. 98, 102, 103, 104 and 107 to 112, which should provide you with the requisite guidance on the breaches and sanctions that follow disorderly conduct in the House. These Standing Orders are designed to ensure that you exercise your privilege of free speech with good sense and taste, maintaining courtesy of language towards other Members in debate. You are thus reminded of the provisions of Standing Order No.87 (3), which inter alia states that, and I quote:- “It shall be out of order to use offensive or insulting language whether in respect of Members of the House or other persons.” 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."
}