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{
    "id": 517831,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/517831/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(a) A House has authority to require the attendance of any of its Members, whether they are Ministers or not. It should be borne in mind that the House has always claimed a right to exercise a substantial degree of control over its own Members when the matter in any way relates to privileges of the House, including in respect of attendance upon the service of the House, attendance before another House and even conflicts between Members. (b) When a Member has been ordered to appear before the House or a Committee, the Member is under the same obligations to answer questions before the Committee just like a member of the public. Further, where a Member objects to a question in a Committee, the objection must be raised and determined by the Committee and not by the House. Arising from the above and in order to protect the integrity of the National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya as a whole and to give a fair hearing to Members of the Public Accounts Committee, I now direct as follows:- (i) THAT, the Committee of Privileges enquires into the matters of alleged breach of privileges and/or code of conduct of the membership of the Public Accounts Committee, including recent claims of compromises, corruption and deceit, and submit a report to this House in accordance with Section 10(5) of the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act (Cap 6 Laws of Kenya) within 21 days from the date of this Communication. The House will be expected to deliberate on the report within three days thereafter. The Committee is at liberty to interrogate the submissions made by the individual Members in the Committee on 26th February, 2015, which are captured in the HANSARD of this House, including any related correspondences by any Member of the Committee to the Clerk of the National Assembly or the Speaker. May I also remind the Committee that, given the seriousness of an allegation of bribery, the standard of proof required to substantiate the claims ought to be very high. At this juncture, I want to refer to the Committee a letter of complaint handed over to me by the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, hon. AbabuNamwamba; (ii) THAT, invoking the provisions of Standing Order No.1, the operations of the Public Accounts Committee are hereby suspended until the expiry of the period that I have prescribed or such earlier time the House shall make a resolution following an earlier submission of the report by the Committee of Privileges. Let me make it clear that, this direction does not amount to disbanding the Committee or discharging any Member from the Committee. (iii) THAT, hon. Moses Cheboi, the First Chairperson of Committees, is hereby appointed to chair the Committee of Powers and Privileges during the period of this inquiry on behalf of the Speaker. The Committee of Privileges is at liberty to co-opt not more than three other sitting Members who have served for more than one term to assist them in the inquiry. Such co-opted Members will, however, not be allowed to vote in the Committee nor will they be counted for purposes of quorum. The Committee should hold its first meeting on Monday, 9th March, 2015 at 2.30 p.m. (iv) THAT, the Committee of Privileges develops, for consideration by this House, a code of conduct for Members of Parliament as required under Section 37 of the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012. This should be submitted on or before the end of August this year. 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."
}