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{
    "id": 603420,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/603420/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 51,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "information. If you are knowledgeable, you are likely to save lives. Intelligent information is power. You saw intelligent information in the Egypt plane crash case where intelligent information had been given that there was a possibility that a bomb was going to be sneaked into a plane. Just a one-kilogramme bomb caused loss of many lives because that information did not get to the right people, or whoever was given that information did not take it seriously. This law talks about intelligence information and how it should be processed. It also talks of the Commission on Administrative of Justice, which will be used to purify some of the information, especially if the information comes from the Government. People should access information in the Government, especially construction information when buildings are being approved. If you want to purchase a building, you want to access nitty gritties of information. If there is no mechanism, then you may not have the information and you may not make the right investment choice or decision. You may end up buying a property which is defective and be conned. There are many other laws which will interplay with this one. One of them is the Records Disposal Act. When we have court cases, there are records in court. When a case is over and a judgement has been given, after sometime those records are destroyed. That is a lot of information. Some of that information is left loose and may get to people who are not supposed to get it. There is a manner in which an Act (CAP 14 of the Laws of Kenya) captures it. We also have the Public Archives and Documentation Act, which will also be affected by this law. The necessary amendments must also be made to the Public Officer Ethics Act, 2003, because part of it will be affected by this law. More importantly, the Official Secrets Act will also be affected. I saw a document which came to the Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives and also the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security, and which was stamped officially. Under the Official Secrets Act, Government documents have a stamp to show that they are secret information or confidential. If a letter is confidential and it carries very important information from the Government of Kenya, which can be in the interest of Kenyans and not to their detriment, how secret is it? If it is secret, to what extent can it be released? If one releases such information, what punishment is available? This Bill does not provide serious instances when a breach has occurred because this has is covered in other laws. However, I urge Hon. Nyokabi, whom I have a lot of respect for, to look at a situation where somebody refuses to give information or gives the wrong information, although we have other laws like the laws of defamation, in place; what should we do to such a person under this law? To what extent can we punish them, so that people will be careful not to fail to give information? Those who have been in Government offices know the frustration one can go through a lot of times. If a Government officer is unable to give certain information, what is the level of punishment against that person? At the Committee Stage, we can introduce the necessary amendments to make this law very strong. The Official Secrets Act is very notorious and also very important. I have worked for the Government before and the Swahili language of “ siri kali ’ is what informs a government. There are some Government secrets that you cannot release; an instance issues to do with intelligence and the Military. However, there are other issues that we should get access to. That is why you have sign posts saying “ toa habari kwa polisi”, meaning that you should give information to the police and tell them who has an illegal gun, or who has 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."
}