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{
    "id": 616516,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/616516/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Okoth",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12482,
        "legal_name": "Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth",
        "slug": "kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"
    },
    "content": "I also have to raise another question that is a matter of process and that we need to address in this House. It is the question of eligibility. Who is eligible to be a Cabinet Secretary? When the Constitution talks about the composition and structure of the Cabinet, the only exclusion is that the Cabinet Members shall not be Members of Parliament. However, we have people who have been nominated, accepted and proceeded to be vetted for nominations and they are serving as Members of the National Assembly or Members of the Senate. It is an issue which we should query. It is similar to the requirement which we have when we talk about eligibility to be a Member of Parliament and to be elected to be the President of Kenya. We say very clearly that you cannot be a dual citizen. You do not run to be the President of Kenya as a dual citizen and then upon election before being sworn in, relinquish your foreign citizenship. It should be the same matter here as a matter of principle. If a Member of the Senate or the National Assembly is nominated, they should at that point resign before this House engages with them and vets them to avoid that shadow of conflict that here we are vetting one of our colleagues. That person should, as a matter of principle and tradition, relinquish his seat and resign immediately and come with clean hands to seek vetting here and not as a colleague, but as an eligible nominated member. We should not continue with the tradition. We made that mistake when we honoured Hon. Nkaisserry to be vetted and then relinquished his seat later. We should look at that very seriously. It will save us the trouble that people do not show a serious commitment on where they want to serve. We are 18 months to the next elections. It is going to cause a lot of money running elections in Kericho and Malindi."
}