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{
    "id": 720965,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/720965/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 560,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Okoth",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12482,
        "legal_name": "Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth",
        "slug": "kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I appreciate the kind words from you and the Leader of the Majority Party. In spirit, I am a Kenyan and I feel a northerner. I am not a stranger to the interests, cries and pains of the people of this country, whether they are in Garissa or whether they are victims of torture in Eastleigh or anywhere else in this country. I am happy to second this Bill. Kenya is a signatory to the Convention against Torture, which is an international UN treaty. Might I inform you that as we pass this Bill today, we are making history and we are discussing something that will be very important for setting standards in Africa and in the international scene at a time when countries such as the United States under President Donald Trump have threatened to withdraw from the Convention against Torture or the Convention on the Rights of the Child or other important treaties. We are committing ourselves, and I know these times we debate our international obligations and what treaties we must pass or stay within as Members of this House who have the power, through the Treaty Ratification Act, to sign treaties and make them part of our laws by domesticating them appropriately. I am happy to say that we are taking a step in the right direction. It has been a long process coming. As Hon. Duale mentioned, it has been over nine years since the idea of Prevention of Torture Bill was brought to the House – before some of us got here. In the last three years, as a co-convener of the Human Rights Caucus, we have been lobbying, we have been engaging the civil society, the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, the office of the Attorney-General and other people in Government to make sure that this Bill came through in this fashion. As we move to any opportunities for quick public participation in the next few weeks, I know at Christmas time the public was invited to send their memoranda. It is still not too late to send any opinions through your Members of Parliament so that we can include those in the final amendment at Committee of the whole House stage of this Bill. Kenya reports through the Universal Peer Review Mechanism in Geneva every couple of years on how we are doing on our human rights record. Our President reports to this House on our human rights record and international obligations. It is often a report that we do not get a chance to discuss critically in this House, but it is important. In Banjul at the African 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."
}