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    "id": 719308,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719308/?format=api",
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    "content": "be now read a Second Time. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the Bill is keeping with the practice of making minor amendments which do not warrant the publication of a separate Bill and consolidating them into one Bill. There are 36 Acts of Parliament being proposed for amendment in this Miscellaneous Amendment Bill. All of them have some minor corrections or modifications that will not warrant the need to publish separate Bills. Some are just typographical errors while others are meant to align the Acts with the new Constitution, especially in terms of the terminologies being used. In the old Constitution, there were Ministers and now they are called “Cabinet Secretaries”. There were Permanent Secretaries and now they are called “Principal Secretaries.” Those are some of the very minor changes that are being addressed in this Miscellaneous Amendment Bill. Therefore, the proposals for the amendments are in the 36 Acts of Parliament. I may not be able to go through all the 36 Acts, but I invite the Members to look into them. I assure them that there are no major amendments. One of the statutes that are being proposed for amendment is the Judicature Act, Cap.8. This Bill proposed to align the Judicature Act with the Constitution, especially Article 167(1) of the Constitution on the retirement of judges. Hon. Deputy Speaker, you remember this issue has been in court. It went through the High Court, the Court of Appeal and even up to the Supreme Court. It was a very long story on when the judges should retire, especially those who were hired during the terms of the old Constitution. There was debate on whether it is at 74 or at 70 and the Supreme Court had to pronounce itself very clearly and put the retirement age for all judges at the age of 70. If I am not wrong, it is at the age of 70. Therefore, this proposal arose on the need for clarity on matters relating to the retirement of judges and for the avoidance of doubt and to avoid court cases. That is what is being proposed. The second one is the Advocates Act, Cap.16. This Bill proposes to define the term “unqualified person” because there was no definition on that. For purposes of legal practice, under the Act, there is need to include a person who practises law without having taken out a practising certificate. Therefore, if you do not have a practising certificate, then you are referred to as an unqualified person. It also proposes the issuance of practise numbers to members of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) which are to be endorsed on all documents prepared by practising advocates. Practising advocates always have the seal which is the stamp, the admission number and the signature of the advocate. However, this time, the LSK, in order to instill discipline in the profession, proposed that their members should be issued with practise numbers that will also be appearing on all 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."
}