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{
    "id": 538059,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/538059/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 801,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "This is one of the decisions that the Committee really haggled over. We had a lot of soul-searching. In fact, even as I second this Motion, I do so with a heavy heart because of what we have seen in this House. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, three weeks ago, this House had to reject a Report of the same Committee because of the way the President put the names before this Assembly. We also know that the position available for filling up at the JSC was one. Prof. Mango had retired. We now have two names here. We have the names of Mr. Bett and Mrs. Winifred Guchu. That means one of the Commissioners, Rev. Kobia, was asked to resign. That is what was worrying us. Was that person asked to resign so that they can create space for gerrymandering of having two communities coming on board? These are the issues that we grappled with as we prepared this Report. I also wanted the House to know that, for example, Mrs. Winifred Guchu was the Electoral Director of The National Alliance (TNA) for a while. However, we could not stop her because when this Assembly passed the Judicial Service Act three years ago, instead of providing what is in the IEBC Act – to bar anybody who has been doing politics in the last five years from holding a JSC position – they simply said that if you are appointed and you were a member of a governing council of a political party, you resign. There is a lacuna in the law. That is why we are allowing a political person into the Commission because the law allows it. As a Committee, we could not prevent her from joining the Commission. If this was IEBC, she would not join it because that law is very clear that if you have been doing politics for the last five years, you cannot be a member of the IEBC. So, these are the issues we grappled with when we prepared this Report. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we also grappled with the issue of national values and principles of governance, as provided for under Article 10 of the Constitution, to ensure that there is the face of Kenya in appointments such as these ones. This Report had a dissent because of the national values and governance principles. The principles of equality, freedom and participation, as provided for under Article 27 of the Constitution, are very important. That is why, as a Committee, we are saying that the President runs the risk of having very qualified people being brought and rejected by this House not because they are not qualified, but because the President keeps on choosing people from only two communities. We need to amplify the fact that this House is tired and has been watching. It will not allow the President to pit two communities against the rest of the country. The President is pitting members of the Kikuyu and Kalenjin 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."
}