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"id": 603406,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/603406/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Kanyua",
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"speaker": {
"id": 981,
"legal_name": "Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua",
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"content": "Motion passed. The Bill was published, read the First Time and committed to the Energy and Communications Committee. The Bill was looked at by the Committee, then led by Hon. Gideon Moi, in a clause by clause analysis and was prioritised for passage. As you know, 2007 was an election year. We had 23 Bills awaiting passage. This particular one was eighth on the queue. Unfortunately, in 2007, the Bill was not considered. The Government of Kenya has also put in a lot of effort with regard to this law. A Minister for Information, Hon. Raphael Tuju, drafted a Bill in 2000. In 2005 there was another Government Bill which was fairly technical in its approach. The particular Bill did not go far; it was never published. In the last Parliament, Hon. Shakeel Shabir tried to introduce this Bill again. Recently, Cabinet Secretary Matiang’i, promised that the Bill would come to the Floor of the House. In the first Presidential Speech to Parliament, during a joint sitting of the Houses of the 11th Parliament, the President promised that this Bill would be introduced. It is time that the country looked at this access to information law. There has been a long history and many attempts, but today we want to close these attempts and look at the Bill that is before this House. Former President Mwai Kibaki in 2005 said that his Government was committed to enacting the access to information law. The current President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, has committed that his Government will implement the access to information law. In fact, the Jubilee Manifesto is based on three pillars: Uchumi, Umoja, and Uwazi . The third pillar, Uwazi, is on transparency. This is the law on transparency. We cannot have transparency in our country without an access to information law. There are many reasons why the various regimes in this country have supported this particular Bill. We have many other individuals such as the former Vice President, Hon. Moody Awori, who was a big supporter of this Bill. The former Prime Minister, Mr. Raila Odinga, was also a supporter of this Bill. At one time, he said that the Government was not dilly dallying on this Bill. Dr. Kilemi Mwiria, Hon. Njoki Ndung’u, Hon. Otieno Kajwang’ and many other Members of Parliament have in the past supported efforts to have this Bill passed. During the 10th Parliament, Hon. (Eng.) Rege, who was then the Chairperson of the Committee, made some effort but he did not get far enough. Today, the 11th Parliament has a chance to look at this Bill and consider passing it. The rationale around it relates to the access to information being a fundamental human right. It underpins other rights. We are in a country where our young people continue to be arrested every evening for not carrying an identity card. We do not have a law requiring anybody to carry an identity card. You cannot protect yourself or secure your other rights until and unless you have the right to access information. We have seen many fistula cases in our country. We have corrective fistula surgery being offered in our hospitals. We have many women in our country who continue to suffer cases of fistula, because they do not know that the only thing you need for corrective fistula treatment at the Kenyatta National Hospital is bus fare to get there. Fistula correction is actually free surgery but many citizens do not know that. To protect your other rights such as the right to water, the right to health and the right to education, access to information is extremely critical. This is a law based on the theory that information is for public good. Information is collected using taxpayers’ money. The information that we seek to access is already paid for by taxpayers. Governments, as you know, use taxpayers’ funds for many of their functions. The 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."
}