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{
    "id": 596121,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596121/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 150,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "that there is an oversight body. There is a big brother watching. If we water down the powers of the IPOA, we will be going back to where we were. We refuse to go back to Egypt because we have moved on to Canaan. I will not be happy with the amendments that seek to reduce the powers of the IPOA. The other issue that I mentioned, which I would like to expound on is public participation. There are 32 pieces of legislation that are being amended by this Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill. How sure are we that the stakeholders in the respective fields have actively participated? There are instances where major amendments concerning certain sectors have gone through and yet most of the people are not aware. I am a lawyer of distinction and a very active Member of this House. However, half of the things in this Bill require deletion. Because of the short period of time that we have, I may agree to the deletion. However, the word “delete” in law may have a very profound impact and effect in terms of the law we are seeking to delete. If, as a Member of Parliament, I find it a challenge in terms of participation, what about the public? If this law passes in this form, any member of the public would be acting within his or her rights if he or she challenges its passage in a court of law on the basis of public participation alone. The other issue that I am concerned about is that this Bill is seeking to erode the powers of the Communications Commission of Kenya. This has been a growing trend. We created commissions for a purpose. We do not want a situation, like we did in the old Constitution, where an individual had powers to override everybody else. We do not want a situation where power is abused. Whenever you place absolute power on one person or office, there is the likelihood of such power being abused. That is why, through devolution, we devolved power to various offices. If we agreed to distribute power through devolution and other means, we cannot now reconsolidate those powers in individuals. I would only be happy to support this Bill if we relook at the amendments relating to the Kenya Information and Communication Act. I also want to speak to the issue of the Universities Act that the Bill seeks to amend. This is especially on the issue of accreditation. In addition to this Bill seeking to define “accreditation”, we have greater challenges with the universities with regard to accreditation. It is one of the issues that I raised before. I hoped the persons who will bring amendments in relation to the Universities Act will not just bring amendments on the issue of accreditation but on the entire process of accreditation. Every time I travel across towns in this country, it reminds me of a time when Kenyans would say that this person has gone to such and such a place for further studies. I do not want to mention the countries because I may compromise on my colleagues who have studied in those countries. However, there was a country that was notorious in conducting training in very small rooms. My sitting room would qualify as a university. The quality of teaching there was also in doubt and could be challenged. That is why we now have a crop of young people who are graduating from our universities who cannot handle simplest tasks within their professions. This is because of unregulated proliferation of universities. I am one of the persons who have been very keen on ensuring that we have, at least, one public university per county. However, that does not mean that we compromise on quality. I can see that my time is almost up but I still want to speak. I am the Member of Parliament for Mbita but there is also a big constituency that I represent by choice and by interest namely the women of this country. 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."
}