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"id": 619580,
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"content": "The Papers as tabled before the House consist of copies of deposit vouchers from various banks for varying dates and amounts between the years 2011 and 2012. However, I must say, Hon. Members, after carefully scrutinizing these documents, I am unable to confirm the authenticity and genuineness of the said vouchers. As such, the vouchers as presented are in my opinion inadmissible as records of this House and I accordingly so rule. Further, the Papers also consist copies of correspondences dated 2011, 2012 and 2013 on the letterhead of Mumias Sugar Company Limited and are addressed to M/s Warm and Barn Hill Company Limited of P.O Box 384-50102, Mumias. The correspondences seem to be award letters of contracts for grading and spot gravelling of several roads. The letters appear to bear signatures of officials of Mumias Sugar Company Limited. My decision is based on the rendition of a precedent set by my predecessor the Hon. Kenneth Marende, on September 10th, 2009, on documents tabled by then Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs where he indicated that presence of a letterhead and signatures on a copy of a document of this nature may suffice for the purposes of admitting the document as part of the records of the House. In this regard, copies of letters bearing the letterhead of Mumias Sugar Company Limited are inadmissible as records of this House. Hon. Members, having made that determination, the next question is whether the Papers are relevant for purposes of establishing in terms of Standing Order No. 90, whether the Hon. Member for Mumias East ought to declare personal interest on matters concerning the Report. The relevant question is one that calls into question the issue of whether the correspondence relates to the Hon. Member or whether a link either directly or indirectly exists that can be proven between the Hon. Member and the issue at hand - in this case the Motion before the House on the adoption of the Report on the crisis facing the sugar industry. Hon. Members, as you would recall, yesterday I inquired from Hon. Benjamin Washiali whether he knew Warm and Barn Hill Company Limited to which the letters have been addressed. The Hon. Member is on record as having said that he did not know the company and had never heard of it. In view of the foregoing, the chain process is, indeed, rendered nugatory as there exists no correlation or link between the Member for Mumias East, Mumias Sugar Company and the Report before this House. To this effect, I am, therefore, of the view that in the absence of any other evidence to demonstrate the contrary, the Papers consisting the correspondences tabled before the House, though admissible as I had stated earlier, fail the relevancy test. However, it is important to note that the Member for Homa Bay Town, Hon. George Peter Kaluma, during yesterday’s debate, undertook to confirm that Hon. Benjamin Washiali, indeed, does business with Mumias Sugar Company Limited. Pursuant to Standing Order No.91(2), if a Member has sufficient reason to convince the Speaker that the Member is unable to substantiate allegations instantly, the Speaker shall require that such Member substantiates the allegations not later than the next sitting day. In this regard, and in the absence of any evidence, as clearly seen from Standing Order 91(2), I have no option but rule that, at the moment, the allegations made against Hon. Benjamin Washiali are, at the moment, unsubstantiated. I will be allowing the Member for Homa Bay Town to substantiate his allegations at a later time in this sitting. However, I must hasten to remind Members to refrain from the temptation of drifting away from the Motion before the House, which is, the Adoption of the Report on the Crisis Facing the Sugar Industry in Kenya. In this regard, I will not entertain any attempts to use the privilege of this House to casually slander the Member for Mumias East 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."
}