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{
    "id": 589038,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/589038/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 33,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Keynan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 41,
        "legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
        "slug": "adan-keynan"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Allow me an opportunity to first of all speak as a Member of Parliament for Eldas Constituency before I speak as a representative of these Members in the PSC. I want to stand here and somehow agree with what Hon. Sakaja has said. That notwithstanding, in any civilised democracy, Parliament is a special institution after the security agencies. I have been here for quite some time. In my parliamentary history, this is the first time I am seeing this situation and I want to respond directly to what my good friend Hon. Murungi said. There are realities that we must face. That is why as a commission we went public on some of the things that we feel are affecting the day to day activities of Parliament, not only the National Assembly but also the Senate. Hon. Deputy Speaker, there are critical issues that we must really understand. There are a number of things expected of Members of Parliament. The first one is CDF. The CDF lies within the purview of the Constituencies Development Fund Committee which is a special committee. The essence of having a long recess at the end of August was to allow Members of Parliament an opportunity to roll out their CDF. If you ask them, I am sure the Chairperson of CDF and the members of that Committee have nothing in their possession to disburse to the Members. Therefore, there is nothing they can do. If you ask them, they will tell you it is Treasury. Secondly, we also have a programme under the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) that goes to the constituencies. That programme is under the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing. I am sure none of you has received any disbursement from KeRRA. We also have a programme under the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) which also comes under the Departmental Committee on Energy, Communication and Information. There is nothing the hon. Chairperson can do because there is no disbursement. There is also a programme under the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology on national bursary. Nothing has gone to the constituencies because there is no money and there is nothing the Chair and members of the Committee can do. You can appreciate what Hon. Sakaja has said. That notwithstanding, I do not want us to wash our dirty linen in public. There is something that we must, for the first time, speak on as Members of the 11th Parliament. I want to tell you that if we do not speak in one voice, the image of Parliament will have been affected collectively. You will carry the burden both as an individual Member and collectively. This is the time we must speak. Last week, for the first time and it is in the public domain and we should say it, I felt ashamed when a member of the Executive--- I am not authorised to speak on behalf of the Commission because we have our spokesman who is the chairman but I will say what I want to 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."
}