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{
    "id": 596084,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596084/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 113,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chepkong’a",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1154,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kiprono Chepkonga",
        "slug": "samuel-kiprono-chepkonga"
    },
    "content": "Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice. It provides for a clear procedure on the transmission of the name or names of the persons that have been recommended for appointment to those two positions. It now requires the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to transmit the names of the proposed nominees to the President within three days upon the JSC making such a decision. The Committee considered the appropriateness of this clause and it is, therefore, seeking to move further amendments. The amendments that we seek to introduce arise from experiences. When this House was considering the appointment of the Deputy Chief Justice in 2013, we were constrained to reject a name because we realised that she had been appointed and she was nearing retirement at that time. The difficulty of the Committee was that if we had rejected and the position had been vacant for too long, it would have taken another year for another name to be brought up. So, with a lot of difficulties, we recommended that she be approved for appointment as the Deputy Chief Justice. As you may have seen in the recent past, she is now contesting that she does not want to retire at the age of 70 and yet we know she swore to uphold the new Constitution which requires that all judges retire at the age of 70. When in particular I put that question to her, she said that she would retire at the age of 70. Unfortunately, we did not get her to swear an affidavit. With your permission, we would like to make a clarification with respect to retirement of the judicial officers. This has been misused. When you attain 70 years, you are generally tired. Having worked for over 40 years, it is only fair that you allow other Kenyans to continue to serve. If we allow people to serve up to 74 years, we are denying opportunity to other Kenyans. There are certain things that happen to people when they grow old. I am being persuaded by some Members on the Floor of this House that you can easily grow senile. I have not said so, but it is from some loud noises that I am hearing from the House that there is a possibility. In fact, one of the doctors behind me is claiming that it is true. Since a doctor has said so, I have no reason not to believe. These are serious matters although they touch on the rights of the people. This House needs to pronounce itself on these matters, so that we can allow the courts to function. As it is, the reputation of the courts is in tatters. It is claimed that people want to continue to work when they know they are supposed to retire. We are not trying to push people out of employment but we are saying that it is important that we uphold the Constitution that we passed. We may be coming to you to seek a clarification. The other issue in which we had a lot of difficulties in 2013 is the fact that only one name was presented to the President by the JSC. As a matter of deference to the appointing authority, you must give him the latitude to make a choice. So, we will be proposing an amendment, just like we did with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) that a minimum of three names are forwarded to the President. So, we will be moving that amendment. I request to be given just one minute to conclude one issue that the Committee considered very important to this House. This is under Section 2 of the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act. There is a proposal to oust the participation of this House in the approval of CSs on re-appointment. It is very dangerous to remove the House from the approval process. When you are vetted or approved, this House determines the suitability of that person to the position that he or she has been appointed to. For that person to be taken to another position, this House must also be satisfied that the person is qualified for that position. So, you must come back here, so that we can determine whether he or she is qualified for that position. We will be proposing the deletion of this clause. It was unanimous and many Members have said so. 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."
}