Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 749497,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/749497/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 200,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. A.B. Duale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to move that the Legal Metrology Bill, 2017 be now read a Second Time. Many Members of Parliament were asking me what metrology is. Some thought it was something to do with the weather. I remember Hon. Amina Abdalla, the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources telling me: “I have not seen this Bill. How come it did not come before my Committee?” “Metrology” is a science of measurements. So, there is no way it will be before her Committee. But it was good. Members were asking me last week when this Bill would be on the Order Paper. The principle objective of this Bill is to repeal the old Act which is called “the Weights and Measures” and replaces it with the Legal Metrology Act in order to reflect the substantive changes that have taken place in the science of measurements which is called “metrology”. This will see the Department of Weights and Measures, which is still in the Ministry of Trade and Industrialization address matters affecting a wide range or spectrum of consumers in areas that were not previously covered by the Weights and Measures Act. These areas include health, human safety and environment. The proposed law of the Legal Metrology Bill will bring on board water meters, electricity meters, the breath analyzers, and the famous alcoblow. I am sure Hon. Gumbo has a lot of interest in this. Alcoblow will be defined properly and not in the Traffic Act. You will have an opportunity to see how to measure and how to analyze the gadget they use to make a determination on the amount of alcohol you have taken. It will deal with clinical thermometers, blood pressure gadgets, tyre measure gadgets, time and airtime meters, taxi meters and speed guns. When I was going to school my mum used to own a small kiosk in a place called “Garissa Ndogo” which is now a big place. It is the place where the President addressed a huge rally last time he was in my constituency. We used the weighing machine found in the rural areas, and every three months, there was somebody from Weights and Measures Department who would harass my mum. He would ask whether he could check my mum‟s weighing machine. At times he would say it is faulty. This Bill is dealing with such matters. Kenyans were used to that restrictive weighing machine that we find either at the local kiosk or shop but this one will deal with a wide range. It will deal with health, blood pressure gadgets, and tyre pressure gadgets among others. You can go to a hospital and do a blood pressure test. You are then told you are okay and maybe that gadget was faulty. This law is trying to ensure that even the electricity meters in our houses --- Maybe we are paying too much because the gadget is either faulty or somebody has tampered with it. All these will be clarified. This law, therefore, clarifies which legal metrology standard should be at any county government now that we have a devolved system of Government, and trade is devolved. It will tell us what metrology standards should be available at the county government level and how you trace that to the national physical standards in Nairobi. There is a physical Standard Organization that deals with these matters. Basically that is the essence, spirit and object of this Bill."
}