Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 703145,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/703145/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 360,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "ensure that there is a process through which this law will make it mandatory for the officers who are working in county governments to provide information pertaining to the running of that county government to the governor-elect. It will also make it an offence if they fail to do so. This information could be things such as the county funds and where they are banked, the expenses and the commitments made by that county. I will discuss that under another clause, but I thought it wise to discuss it now so as to lay the foundation for you to see that there is a lot of information to be passed on to the governor-elect and that it has to be protected in law. That cannot be left to the goodwill of the individual who has been occupying that office. He cannot be left to pass the information either selectively or if he wishes because one may choose the information to pass on and what not to pass on. Clause 11 provides for the swearing in of the governor-elect. The swearing in ceremony must be conducted in public before a High Court Judge. We have also proposed that in the absence of such a judge, then before a Resident Chief Magistrate. There are proposals from some of our colleagues to have some amendments. One of them is to ensure that the presiding judge has to be a judge and not a magistrate. We welcome this. They will be debated and discussed at the Committee Stage but as of now, the Bill proposes that this ceremony be in public before a resident High Court judge. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, also under this clause, we specify that this ceremony should take place on a known day. We propose this to be on a Tuesday following the 21st day after the declaration of the results of the election of that county governor. I do not want to spend much time elaborating this because it is largely obvious. First, this ceremony has to be public and open to everybody; all and sundry, good or bad, competitors and non-competitors as well. Everyone is welcome. It is an open ceremony. They can come and witness the swearing in of their governor. More so, it will deal with some of the crimes we have seen in the past where after an election, two or three competing groups – one runs to their house and the other to another field somewhere – this is well known in the history of this country. It has happened. Another one may even run to their bedroom and conduct a swearing in ceremony. As long as they come and say that so-and-so was with me when we were having this ceremony, then they can spark off, in the absence of legislation, a debate and contest that there is another governor who has been sworn in. That is why we have specified that this ceremony must be done publicly, openly and on a known date such that after the election of a governor-elect, no pretender can say the elections were done on Friday and on Saturday morning, we met with so-and-so where my friends who are my supporters witnessed my swearing in. It can only be on that Tuesday. It can only be on the 21st day after the election. That is the only ceremony that will be recognised, and the law, through which the governor-elect will be sworn in. Next is Clause 12. When I refer to known cases, you may remember that in the elections of 2007/2008, there was a swearing in ceremony somewhere at Uhuru Park while the main one was going on elsewhere. Contests were also raised during the last elections. Some people mooted that they wanted to have another swearing in ceremony somewhere. These are the things we want to deal with legislatively. You can imagine if this is played out in 47 counties. You could as well have more than 100 swearing in ceremonies in the counties. This will plunge the country into chaos. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}