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{
    "id": 515597,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/515597/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Oyugi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 444,
        "legal_name": "Augostinho Neto Oyugi",
        "slug": "augostinho-neto-oyugi"
    },
    "content": "farmers are not given subsidies and incentives to ensure that they do their very best in terms of agriculture. Having agreed with a couple of proposals the Senate has made, I have an issue with two proposals they have made that I would like the house to consider. The first one is paragraph 12 which it talks about the extension of the term of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC). In the Sixth Schedule under paragraph 5(7) of the Constitution, the term limit of CIC is stated. It was envisaged to be five years after its establishment or at full implementation of the Constitution as determined by Parliament, whichever is sooner. Of course there is leeway to extend the mandate of this Commission. But if we are to be honest, the reason why CIC was given a five term limit was because it was anticipated that all the laws that will help implement the Constitution would have either been thought through by then or would have been made by then. The law anticipated in Article 27(8) of the Constitution is one of the fundamental laws that the Commission should have been handling. It is supposed to operationalise the one-third gender rule. This law is important because apart from having a constitutional deadline, if not achieved, the implication is a possible dissolution of Parliament. For the five years the Commission has been in office, they have done nothing and there is a proposal to give them an extension. That will not be fair. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, laws under Article 59 of the Constitution like laws on Persons Deprived of Liberty and the Victims Protection Act for instance, took a member’s own initiative - I know my very good sister hon. Millie Mabona had to make a proposal in terms of activating Article 59 of the Constitution which was a preserve of the CIC. It is not in order for us to imagine extending the term of this Commission. In all fairness, the Commission should do its very best in the remaining few days. I am sure this particular decision will be coming to the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs which you, Temporary Deputy Speaker and I sit and we need to elucidate. In Paragraph16, whereas I agree that devolution is good and it should always be supported, the assertion by the Senate that all functions together with resources tied to them on health and agriculture should be immediately sent to the counties even in the absence of a clear framework under Article 187 is misplaced. The Senate instead, should ensure that the various functions of counties as captured in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution have been transferred. In its oversight role, it should ensure that counties are ready to take up the functions. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, turning to the main BPS, at paragraph five, the Committee has done well. Even though there are various things anchored in law aligning development strategies in the counties, how to achieve the leverage between the counties and the national Government has not been thought through. In terms of prioritisation and strategies, we need to harmonize how development is achieved both at the national level and at the counties in a seamless manner that does not create conflict. On governance, there is no status report as to whether the proposed targets of the Ethics and Ant-Corruption Commission (EACC) in the BPS of 2014/2015 were achieved. Currently, what is happening at the EACC is not fun. It is fighting within itself. The EACC can also not achieve its targets. It is not showing us how best it will deal with them. Even though in this proposal we are giving EACC more money - which was a 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."
}