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{
    "id": 633566,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/633566/?format=api",
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    "content": "defined. It is clear that when we talk about statutory instruments, we refer to rules, orders, regulations, directions, forms, tariffs, letters and patterns that are made or established in the execution of a power conferred under any Act. Madam Temporary Speaker, the importance of this is that once county assemblies have come up with Acts of the assembly, the responsibility to come up with statutory instruments is most often left to the County Executive Committees (CECs) or the relevant arms of the executive. In the current scenario, they come up to the assembly but do not come back in a form that is standardized. The County Statutory Instruments Bill attempts to create a framework that provides standardization and clear guidelines on how these statutory instruments should be treated. I like the fact that this Bill, despite being a fairly legalistic Bill, in the Schedule that provides guidelines on the content and the structure of statutory instruments, it is coached in layman’s terms. There are many cases where the Bill says ‘describe in plain English’. There is a realization that advocates sometimes attempt to use technical terms to make life difficult for their customers. We have about 10,000 lawyers in this country against a population of 40 million people. Therefore, it is important that statutory instruments are crafted in a language that the majority can understand. That would be plain English or any other language. Unfortunately, in this case we are talking about plain English. It is not only English which is an official language in this country but all the same, it is a good start. Madam Temporary Speaker, I see value in this particular Bill, particularly when I reflect on some of the experiences that I have had as a Senator. In the early days following my election, I went back to my county and found that traders in the key market in Homa Bay Town were up in arms; that their market had been allocated to a supermarket which had intentions of constructing a parking bay. This is an old market; we found it there when we were born. Some of our mothers sold groundnuts, omena, rice and beans there to provide school fees to push many of us through school. One day, the traders woke up and were told that the land is lying idle and it shall be allocated to a foreign investor who has set up a supermarket in the town to create a parking bay for customers of the supermarket. It turned out that the community and the county assembly that was affected had not been consulted. Even if they had been consulted, there was no record or evidence that consultation had taken place. There was uproar and I stepped in as Senator and assured the traders that their market could not be taken away from them without proper procedures in place. Madam Temporary Speaker, this Bill tells me that, in future, even if the county government wanted to cede a market or public land or such other public property to a private investor in a manner that will affect the livelihood of the people, then, that statutory instrument that provides that direction must comply with the requirements of this Bill. In my view, once this becomes an Act of Parliament, one of the things that county governments must pay attention to will be appropriate consultation. This Bill is clear that the first thing that must happen is that there must be appropriate consultation with all the stakeholders. In fact, it states that before a regulation authority makes a statutory instrument, it shall consult with persons who are likely to be The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}