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"id": 56753,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/56753/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
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"speaker": {
"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to urge the Minister in charge of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, who happens to be present, that it is his duty to ensure that the CIC gets all the facilitation it needs, for example, funding and any other logistical support so that they can move on with their work. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to tell the Minister that in terms of preparing Bills, it is a shame because we have been in this Parliament for the last three weeks and not a single Bill for implementing the Constitution has been ready. The Government must stop dragging its feet. We are not exactly helpless. We are now giving notice to the Government. If they continue delaying, we, as ordinary Members and Back Benchers, will start bringing Bills to implement the Constitution. We will no longer wait for the Government. We are not prepared to pass the deadlines that are stipulated by the Constitution, only to find ourselves without the relevant Bills. We want to see all the Bills relating to police reforms, judicial reforms, electoral process reforms and the electoral body brought to this House. We also want to see all the institutions that are supposed to be renewed or formed, formed swiftly. I do not see why the Government is waiting and not appointing the new National Police Commission. That Commission is the one that will help us to deal with the Bills that relate to police reforms. I do not know why the Government has not so far instituted reforms that will help to re- train and re-orient the police. No wonder, the extra-judicial killings are going on as though the Constitution was never passed. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is time that the Ministry concerned with implementation flagged out all these issues to the Government. The duty of the Ministry is not limited only to preparation of Bills. It also includes overseeing the Government to implement the Constitution to the letter. I want to pose this rhetorical question: âWhy are the police continuing to behave as though Kenyans do not have a Bill of Rights to protect them?â We support the police in their work of law enforcement but we insist that they must implement the law within the constitutional provisions and within the stipulation of all the supporting legislation. You cannot uphold the rule of law by breaking the law. Two wrongs do not make a right. However, bad the situation is, unless the lives of the policemen or other civilians are in danger, or the circumstances are provided for in the law, we want to hear of arrests and not shoot to kill. However, where the law provides that the police can act otherwise and they are within the law, we support investigations and all lawful actions. We want to see a programme of re-training so that even the manner in which the Government answers our Questions in this Parliament will show a re-awakening of the consciousness of the Government that this is a new dispensation where the rights of citizens must be protected. We should never hear a Minister stand at the Dispatch Box and boast that he or she is looking for people, either to finish them or to contain them. We want Ministers to follow due process. It is embarrassing that this has been happening. We have not heard any protests from the Ministry that is in charge of human rights. I am, therefore, asking the Minister who is in charge to wake up to this reality and become the defender of peoplesâ rights because human rights reside in his docket. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, on the issues of gender, I want to, first, salute the women who applied for the jobs that were advertized. For the post of Chief Justice, there is one distinguished woman judge and for the post a Deputy Chief Justice, scores of distinguished women have applied. I congratulate them. I want to tell my colleagues that it is not the duty of women Members alone to encourage our women folk to apply, so that we can comply with the one-third requirement. The advancement of women is the advancement of society. We, therefore, should join hands as national leaders in this country to ensure that women are encouraged to apply because we know that in this day and age, there are enough women who are well educated and qualify for any job that may be advertized in this country. Therefore, we need to, collectively, as hon. Members of Parliament, Members of this National Assembly, to mobilize our constituents and friends to apply. This is not a âwe versus you issueâ. This is our issue as Kenyans. We passed this law together. Let us hear the tenor of contributions from all our colleagues, both male and female, to be tenor of encouragement and not condemnation and bashing. We are in this together and that is the message from us. The constitutional provisions are not there as a joke. They must be complied with. We also want to plead with the House that when women will be finally selected, let us not find lame excuses to remove them from the posts that they have been selected. We had an occasion here where we had to return a lady who had been removed without sufficient reason. But I want to congratulate the House because we unanimously returned her to the Revenue Allocation Commission. The Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution should have a to-do list for the Government, flagging out all the areas that must be looked into. We have institutions that are yet to be renewed and bodies which are yet to be formed. We want to see everything done. I know that the Schedule says that we can pass some of the legislation within a year; others within 18 months, others within two years, others within three years and finally within five years. If we are serious about implementation, why would we wait for five years? Let us look at the laws and give them to the relevant Parliamentary Committees and Government Departments. Let us invite the public and the civil society so that we make these laws together. We can do it. It is possible. We can finalize the implementation of this Constitution and, especially the enabling legislation, within 24 months. If we space out the implementation too much, resistance grows and it will be business as usual. Total reform must be wholistic. Therefore, I am for us accelerating everything and not just saying that we have five years. We do not have time. Time is not on our side and Kenyans are eager to reap the fruits of the constitution right now. If you look at the Bills being given three years and five years, you will discover that most of them relate to human rights and daily difficulties that people are getting, and to the emotive issue of land. These are things we cannot wait for. When we come to devolution, I have seen a taskforce by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government going round. There is nothing wrong with that except when they give an impression to the public that the new devolved Government will be just like an extension of the Executive. When they try to make decisions for a Government that is yet to know where the county headquarters will be and the priority of that Government--- Who said that if my county, Kirinyaga, is given Kshs200 million, the Governor who will be elected will choose to be wasteful and start constructing a new headquarters when people have no x-ray machines and scanning machines in the district hospitals and children do not have proper facilities in school. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, any serious person managing a county or the national Government will line priorities according to need. I am hoping that no leader, elected in the next general election will squander public funds or start on the least of priorities instead on what is necessary. We have seen this Government spending money on things that are not as urgent and leaving urgent issues like giving services to those affected by the drought, giving services to the IDPs or giving assistance to those who are in need of basic services like education and health and devoting money and time to politicking, to partisan politicking and not only politicking for the sake of the nation. Unless we want to incoming Government on the failures of this Government, we would not be trying to determine the priorities of the incoming counties. Let the leaders who will be elected next year determine what the priorities of each county are and let them make their decisions. I want to tell those who are happy that they have already determined what will happen when the county governments come in, to read the Constitution twice and they will see their decisions will not bide the incoming government. On a matter of policy, they can give general direction, but you cannot bide an incoming government, especially one which the Constitution gives autonomy. I have noticed that the Government Ministries are busy forming taskforces. Why would you form a taskforce to ask people the same question the Committee of Experts and the former Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) asked and was finally agreed upon and included in the Constitution? What about citizenship, for instance, would you want Kenyans to tell you? They have already told you that they want dual citizenship and that all children who are eight years belong to Kenya and we have reasonable belief that they belong to us. The Constitution has already told you that all citizens are equal and both men and women can give citizenship to their spouses. If it was a taskforce to draft the relevant law, then we would endorse such a taskforce. I would urge the Minister concerned to re-direct the mandate of the taskforce, so that it is useful. That goes for any other Ministry setting up taskforces. I have already said that the one by the Ministry of Local Government also tended to exceed the mandate by trying to align priorities for the incoming government. I think we need to think very carefully. Let us not just rush where we think we can spend because I saw advertisements even for county headquarters. I am wondering where you got the mandate to act on behalf of a government that is yet to come. We must do the things that are there today. Yes, the incoming government will need staff and offices, but all the counties have offices where the county council resides. Even if it is not the office of your dreams, even if it is not as grandiose as you would choose, you will have to look at the priorities of your county. You might think it is more useful to give the people water before giving them a skyscraper. You might think it is more relevant to build a hospital before building a mansion for the Governor and you might decide that the Governor can fit in the District Commissionerâs (DCâs) former house. These are the things we must consider. We must ask ourselves: Why did we pass the Constitution? The ordinary Kenyan, including ourselves, had expectations that their lives would improve. We are enjoined to do those things that will immediately improve the lives of the majority of Kenyans and not things that will improve the lives of a few. This is where our focus should be. Finally, I would want to see security issues addressed. We have Members of the Government making threatening speeches that âif you are not with us and you are from region Xâ, and I want to declare here and now that I am not bound by any region or any declaration. I will speak my mind and I will stand with my party and even alone, if I have to. Those who have vowed that they will point at us and point at our homes and that we shall be flushed out, try and the law will catch up with you. We will see how you can force me to do what I do not want to do or the many Kenyans. These are threats to injure and should any injury befall us or those who like us stand firm in their belief, it will be squarely on the Government and on the peddlers of such threats."
}