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"id": 594932,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/594932/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 366,
"legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
"slug": "amos-wako"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I profusely thank Senators who have very ably contributed to this important Bill. We had the Vice Chairman, Sen. Sang, Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, the number one Senator – the oldest Senator who is still in this House – Sen. G.G. Kariuki, who made a very effective contribution on the matter which lasted more than 15 minutes up to the time we adjourned and he still had ideas to go but he could not to do so, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'-Nyong'o, Sen. Hassan, Sen. Ndiema and our own, Sen. Nabwala. They have all made very important contributions on this Bill. They have all reminded us that this Bill will reduce the cost of legal services. Madam Temporary Speaker, when we did our first case, we wanted certain lawyers to represent us. However, because we were getting money from the public coffers, it had to go through procurement process and the amount was limited. We ended up having one advocate only against governors who, because they have a kitty where they have put a lot of money for legal counsel, hired a number of senior counsel, senior advocates and so on. We won because the law was on our side. However, I believe that the amount of money that must have been spent on that case was more than Kshs100 million. That was just on legal costs. There are also costs of entering into investment agreements, costs of contract and so on. Therefore, that will save a lot of money for county governments to devote to the welfare and wellbeing of the people of the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, a number of ideas have been mooted. One of them revolves around the issue of security of tenure for the county attorney. There have been those who believe that the county attorney should have security of tenure that outlasts the governor. I believe Sen. Ndiema is one of them. We also have those, like Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, who believe that the county attorney should go with governor. If the governor can appoint him or her, then, the governor can still reappoint them. Therefore, there are conflicting ideas. However, the spirit behind the County Attorney’s Bill was to line the provisions of the Attorney-General at the national level with the county attorney. At the national level, the Attorney-General is appointed by the President. He is a Member of the Cabinet and goes with the President. As opposed to the previous situation under which I served, in the old Constitution, the Attorney-General had security of tenure. I managed to serve as the Attorney-General for 21 years only. I left when we got the new Constitution. We have conflicting ideas but I feel that we should align the appointments with the national Government where the county attorney will come in with the governor and go with the governor. We can improve a bit on the issue of who to appoint. However, we must realise that the President, just like the governor also elected by the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}