{"id":675609,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/675609/?format=json","text_counter":132,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":24,"legal_name":"Nicholas Gumbo","slug":"nicholas-gumbo"},"content":"Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I just have one point to highlight. The Committee on Appointments, as has been outlined by Hon. Katoo ole Metito, is chaired by none other than you. You realise that in the course of performing vetting for appointment, one of the things that we look out for is academic qualifications. I say this because it would be wrong for us, as a House, to demand and insist on standards which we do not uphold. I am aware that there is a Bill before this House requiring Members of Parliament to have certain minimum academic qualifications. I am not pre-empting a decision on that requirement because I also know it is in the public domain that there are proposals to amend that requirement. Would we then not be contradicting our roles if we demand of others standards that we are not willing to uphold? This goes not just to the National Assembly or the institution of Parliament, but even to the county assemblies. On this, I am willing to stand alone. It is totally contradictory and unacceptable for a Member of a County Assembly (MCA) who does not even have Standard Seven education to insist on vetting someone who has a university degree and demand that, that person must have a university degree. Similarly, even here, as we demand of others to have certain academic qualifications, it would be wrong for us to demand of others to have those qualifications when we are shy to live by those qualifications. Hon. Speaker, with those remarks, I wish to support."}