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{
    "id": 692640,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/692640/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 142,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Katoo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 199,
        "legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
        "slug": "judah-ole-metito"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I must confess that I have just seen this Bill. I am not convinced that we should support it as a House for the following reasons. Just look at Clause 20 of this Bill. We should not support it in the current form. Clause 20 states that an elected or nominated Member of Parliament or a County Assembly shall not participate in a fundraising function or conduct a fundraising activity during his or her term as a Member of Parliament. Clause 20 (2) states that a person who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding Kshs800,000. This Clause alone does not allow me to support this Bill for one reason. Why are we exempting Members of Parliament or elected officials from participating in social welfare activities of assisting communities, while we open it up for other people to fundraise? We are becoming self-centred. We are trying to shield ourselves from what is happening in the society. If we are not careful, this Clause may work against us for the following reasons. We are not barring the other political hopefuls - our opponents - from participating in those fundraisings. Once you are elected for five years, you are completely out of touch with what is happening in the society. Today, there may be a fundraising in aid of someone who wants to further his education. Tomorrow, there may be a fundraising in aid of somebody who has some medical bills and is from your constituency. There could be an emergency in your constituency for very needy people. Just because they have elected you and given you the honour of representing them either at the county assembly or National Assembly, you are not supposed to assist them. If we really want this Bill to pass, when we go to the Committee of the whole House Stage, the relevant committee of this House, namely, the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, should propose amendments to prevent us from looking like we are shielding ourselves from participating in social welfare activities in our societies. However, there are good elements in the Bill like the need to control, monitor and promote accountability in fundraising appeals. This is a welcome move. As much as we are telling everyone who seeks a fundraising appeal to be accountable and transparent, we should not in any way fail to do the same. Suppose today it is a close family member of a Member of Parliament who is in need of a fundraising appeal and yet, you cannot participate just because you are an elected Member of the National Assembly or County Assembly. I urge the House to strongly object to this Bill in its current form. There is no one in this society who has it all. We all need one another. We must build churches. Those are the houses where we go to worship. Even your own house must be maintained from time to time. At times, our schools call for harambees to construct more classes. You are the leader of that constituency and yet, you cannot participate in helping them construct those two classrooms or even buy a school bus just because a law has been passed in this House to stop you from doing so. We should have control measures to control public spending when we deal with fundraisings. Those controls should ensure that there is transparency on the usage of those funds. There should be a good schedule that ensures that we do not have 10 fundraising appeals in a day in only one constituency. For purposes of being part of that society, I will not refuse to participate in such fundraising appeals."
}