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{
    "id": 615920,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/615920/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 16,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Abongatum",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 165,
        "legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
        "slug": "asman-kamama"
    },
    "content": "Constitution, approves the appointment of Mr. Micah Powon as the Principal Secretary, State Department for Correctional Services. From the outset, I just want to point out that the Committee conducted the vetting exercise and established the following about this nominee. He has vast experience in the public service. He started as a junior researcher and rose through the ranks to become the Managing Director of a State corporation Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the nominee has excellent working knowledge of structural legislative and regulatory framework of the public service. The nominee has 20 years’ experience in the agricultural sector. Such experience would come in handy in reversing the fortunes of prison farms. This is an issue we are grappling with in the Prisons Department. The Prisons Department has a problem of wage bill. The wage bill has to be managed by the incoming Accounting Officer. The nominee has been in a managerial position for nine years. He served as an Accounting Officer in the Cotton Development Authority, which position prepared him for the role of a Principal Secretary. The nominee was recruited in a competitive, transparent and fair process before nomination for appointment and was recommended for the position of Principal Secretary by the Public Service Commission (PSC) The nominee does not have integrity issues. He is tax compliant and has received clearance from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB). He has also been cleared by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the famous Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). In a nutshell, as a Committee, we looked at various issues. With regard to his professional experience and courses attended, he ticks the box and has no issues. He has good professional experience. He has served the Government in various capacities throughout the country. He has no issues to do with potential conflicts. He is also okay on integrity issues. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we managed to probe and ask the nominee to tell the Committee what he was going to do in the department, which we know has very many challenges. The first challenge is the pending bills. The other one is congestion in prisons. Third is lack of an upper limit in life sentences; fourth, medical services for inmates and prison staff; fifth, terms of service for prison staff or prison warders; and, sixth, obsolete equipment in the prison industries. The equipment being used were inherited from the colonial government. On matters of accountability, the nominee convinced the Committee that he will handle those issues appropriately. Without much ado, I wish to now state that the Committee recommends that having considered the suitability, the capacity and the integrity of the nominee, and pursuant to Article 155(3) of the Constitution and Section 8(2) of Public Appointment (Parliamentary Approval) Act No.33 of 2011, the National Assembly approves the nomination of Mr. Micah Powon for the appointment to the position of Principal Secretary in the State Department of Correctional Services. That is the position of the Committee. I now call upon my able Deputy, Hon. Alois Lentoimaga to second. I thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}