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"speaker_name": "Hon. Adan Wehliye Keynan",
"speaker_title": "The Hon. Member for Eldas",
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"content": "We must also appreciate that we have a premier country called Kenya. The oath of office which we took the other day is meant to reaffirm our commitment to the constitutional order of the Republic of Kenya. Therefore, as the people’s representatives, we must be prepared to jealously protect, promote and project the image of Kenya as a premier nation. This country is second to none. We also have Standing Orders. I saw the argument by my former chairman, Hon. Mbadi. I must say that at one time in the 10th Parliament, there were only two Backbenchers who were members of the House Business Committee. It was Hon. Khalwale and myself, who were first appointed. Previously, it used to be a club of senior ministers. Not even ministers but senior ministers. When we were appointed, the assumption out there was that Hon. Khalwale and Hon. Keynan would actually find their way into the Cabinet, but that did not happen. We finished our term as two senior Backbenchers who served in the HBC. That was the time of the nusu mkate government. Hon. Amos Kimunya, who was a very powerful Minister for Finance, was the Deputy Leader. His appointment brings a bit of professionalism and institutional memory. I know we will, very soon, confirm these appointments. The other bit will come afterwards. Once we confirm these appointments, can the Committee sit? The Committee can sit. Standing Order No.171(5) talks about the members. Some are as a result of the provisions of Article 108 of the Constitution, which talks about the leadership and how they are to be appointed. At this juncture, I want to thank the President and the Deputy President, and the entire leadership of the Jubilee Party, for having found it wise to reappoint Hon. Duale as the Leader of the Majority Party. I also thank the party for appointing Hon. Washiali, a good friend of mine; Hon. Cecily Mbarire and Hon. Jimmy Angwenyi. Indeed, looking at the faces of this group, I would say that every Member here is actually the best as far as the electorates are concerned. These are senior members who have been here previously. I am sure they will guide us properly when it comes to doing our work as expected. Finally, let us not introduce politics. Let us do politics in our villages but when we come here as parliamentarians, we must be prepared to do four things: We must be ready to represent our people, to legislate and to provide oversight and, in addition, to engaging in something called “Parliamentary Diplomacy”, which is in the making. Each one of us here, in our own right, will be expected to be an ambassador of the Republic of Kenya through your electorate. Therefore, this is not a mean achievement. Let us pass this Motion so that this Committee can give us business to do. This Committee is the mother of all Committees. After we form it, the next thing they will do is to generate business. Therefore, it means those who are opposed to these names have a hidden agenda – not to have the House generate business. I want to conclude by saying that this is a critical moment for our country because what happened the other day at the Supreme Court is unprecedented. The way we responded to the Supreme Court ruling is also unprecedented. I observed two things: a comment from a senior writer from The Economist and some news analysis from the Cable News Network (CNN). In both cases, the expectation was that on the particular day that the Supreme Court made that pronounced, we would fight and there would be chaos. That did not happen. Kenya is a resilient nation. The President yesterday said that we should not take our democracy for granted. Look at the history and the geo-political state in this region. Look at Somalia. I do not want to mention 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."
}