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{
    "id": 739354,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/739354/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 213,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sijeny",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13127,
        "legal_name": "Judith Achieng Sijeny",
        "slug": "judith-achieng-sijeny"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I do not agree with the recommendations of this Committee. I think they went beyond their mandate. After listening to what was being said, I believe there is no justification for giving all these recommendations. Political parties have been given the powers by the East African Court of Justice Rules, which they have abided by to the letter. A few leaders may feel that since the people they wanted were not nominated and they did not succeed through any other process to get what they wanted, the process must be canceled. That nullification is unfair and not legal at all. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you listened to the submissions of most of our colleagues, and in your wisdom, expunged those proceedings. It is clear that the only reason the list of nominees to the EALA has been submitted to Parliament by various political parties is because they all have their personal views. Some have personal vendetta which, in my view, should not be settled in Parliament. Take the scenario of a Kenyan, and more particularly, a youth who has applied for a position and met all the requirements. He has gone through the rigorous panel of interviews and vetting. Due diligence has been done and his integrity confirmed. The academic qualification befit and he has justified why he wants to join the EALA. He has demonstrated his passion and enumerated the things he has done for more than two years. Just because you happen to be a son of a politician, it does not mean that you are condemned. I believe that is not the case. The Bill of Rights is there to protect everybody. Why should you discriminate someone just because their names are similar to that of a politician who is not even in Parliament? We know how Parliament has treated the same politician. However, that is not the issue. There should not be any discrimination. I would not want my children to work hard, get education, graduate and be barred from getting a job because I am a politician; whether former or current. I am also a child of a former politician who is deceased – may the good Lord rest his soul in peace - but I am here. If I had been denied a chance just because my father was a politician, that would not be justice. I am certainly not in support of these recommendations at all. There is no legal justification. The facts in the Anyang-Nyong’o case are so different. Sen. (Prof.) Anyang-Nyong’o clarified that the facts are not similar to this. What we - and I was one of the lawyers - wanted to correct is not what was done here. The political parties here have followed the due process of what they ought to have done. It is not because there was a complaint and he has clarified the fact. Misleading people and trying to settle personal scores, I repeat - When you are given the opportunity to do it within your political party and you do not because you are coming to the Senate or Parliament to exercise your muscles is, for me really, abuse of office. We cannot say that the youth cannot be empowered. We need to empower them irrespective of their background. This is just one job. Leaders should be creating more jobs. Just last weekend as a Committee on Delegated Legislation, we went to Mombasa to look at a series of regulations which had been brought to us by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kazungu to support the Mining Act. There are several jobs which are going to be created once the Act starts being implemented. Those are the kind of things we should be doing, but not to fight people for only one job; the entire country cannot sit on that seat but one person at a time."
}