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{
    "id": 697952,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/697952/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 30,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "You should be aware that in this country, directors are appointed from all walks of lives as it should be. A director of a company should have skills. As soon as one is appointed, he should have capacity to learn how to interact and operate the business of the board that he has been appointed to. This country has more than 100 parastatals, but as you know now, they have become places where we recycle politicians and appoint people who have campaigned for us who want to give favours. That is not the problem. The problem is: Once you are appointed to a board, do you have the capacity to engage with the business of the board? Are you able to conduct the affairs of the board in the required manner? Are you able to competently engage and ensure that what the board is supposed to do is being done in a manner that furthers the interests of the country? Are you doing things to enrich yourself and your family? This Bill ensures that the membership of the Institute is going to be voluntary. We will not force you to join the Institute. Once you join, we will take you through training. You will sign to regular intervals of training. We will require that you do a couple of trainings every year before you renew your membership. Once you are a member, you will benefit from the following things that the Institute will be doing:- (i) Promotion of standards of professional competence and practice amongst members of the Institute. (ii) Promotion of research into the subject of directorship, corporate governance and related matters. (iii) Promote international recognition of the Institute to ensure that all persons who act as directors of State organs, entities and emprises in Kenya meet the standards of learning, professional competence and professional conduct that are appropriate for such posts. (iv) Protect and assist members of the public in Kenya in matters relating to or incidental to the directorship and corporate governance. This Bill will help set, maintain and enhance the standards of professional practice and ethical conduct of directors of State organs, entities and enterprises alongside public listed entities and companies. It will also help protect and promote the public interest generally by providing a fair, effective, efficient and transparent procedure for the resolution of complaints against members of the Institute. One peculiar provision of this Bill is that for the first time, we seek to introduce a system for self-regulation of directors either in public or private companies. It ensures that the board of the Institute is able to continually check its members who sign onto it to ensure that they live with and are guided by the principle of corporate governance. There is a person they can answer to and that can discipline them. There is a way in which this body can ensure that if you are not doing your work properly, they can decide that you can never be a director in any public company because you do not qualify. Under this Bill, we are going to ensure that the board registers members of the Institute like I said earlier. Once you are a member, you can be disciplined. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as a lawyer, you do your practise within the confines of the law. Members of the public can complain against you and if the committee in charge of discipline at the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) finds that what you have done is against the code of conduct, they can defrock you or bar you from practising law in this country. You must meet the requirements. The Bill proposes that anybody can be a director. A teacher, lawyer or doctor can be a director. However, if you are a member of the Institute, we will be looking at your conduct. Much as we will train you and build your capacity to competently engage with the 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."
}