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{
    "id": 674734,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/674734/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 80,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Midiwo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 184,
        "legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
        "slug": "jakoyo-midiwo"
    },
    "content": "That is the profile I was trying to give you. So, I am not out of order. I rise to second. In the last one week, you have been chairing a Committee that I was sitting in that was dealing with issues of Hon. Members’ privileges. How happy am I to read this Senate Bill that somebody has taken a lot of time to do good work on! A lot of the things we have been discussing are already in here. This is good. The issue of members’ privileges be they members of county assemblies, the National Assembly or the Senate, is a big issue. This Bill talks about the definition of the word “precincts.” Even the courts have wrongly defined what “precincts of Parliament” means. They have defined it as to mean only inside the Chamber. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you remember the Gor Sungu case. I am happy that this is going to clarify the things uttered around Parliament so that the sanctity of Parliament is upheld in law and is not left to interpretation of a court or anybody else. It is even amazing that somebody would say that “precincts” can just be a Chamber without the boundaries or Parliament without the boundaries. This makes it very clear. The Bill defines “precincts” as the chambers in which the proceedings of the country assembly are conducted, including the galleries, the lobbies and the chambers, and all the parts of the buildings in which the chambers are situated, including the entrances, forecourts, yards, gardens, enclosures or open spaces apparent thereto. This is good. It further defines “precincts of parliament” as including committee rooms and other meeting places provided or used for the county assembly’s purposes. Right now if you go to where the assemblies are, they are regular places. This definition is going to help. All I hope is that elected and nominated leaders, be they at the national or county levels, also understand that when you have such privileges, you must behave differently and that the law expects you to behave differently. That is addressed in this Bill. There is clarification which this House will have to address itself to as regards to security officers. This Bill says that an officer of a national security organ may, with permission and authority of the Speaker, enter upon or remain in the precincts of a county assembly for the purposes of performing any function of that national security organ. What I have a problem with, which must be looked at, is where it says such officer “may perform any other function within the precincts of the county assembly.” Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you cannot let security officers perform any other function. We will be seeking to amend the Bill to remove that provision because it negates every other thing that the Speaker has permitted them to do. That 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."
}