{"id":773744,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/773744/?format=json","text_counter":136,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Murugara","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13491,"legal_name":"George Gitonga Murugara","slug":"george-gitonga-murugara"},"content":"Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to support the Report by the Committee on Appointments for the approval of nominees for appointment to the Cabinet. The Report as presented to the House is detailed enough and has given us insights as to what exactly the Committee on Appointments considered before coming up with a Report. It is clear that the nine nominees have met the criteria set by the law for approval for appointment. Unless there are cogent reasons why this House should reject that Report, it goes without saying that the House does adopt the Report presented to this House by the President of the nine candidates for appointment. I just wish to mention a bit about each of them as I know them. Prof. Margaret Kobia is a long serving Commissioner with the Public Service Commission (PSC). Her credentials are impeccable and therefore, she went unchallenged. Hon. John Munyes is also a long serving Member of Parliament and is well known in the country and again, was not challenged. Amb. (Dr.) Monica Juma has been a career civil servant, a very competent lady who has actually rendered the best to this country and therefore passes for the appointment. For Ms. Farida Karoney, I even had the advantage of listening to her interview and her presentations were excellent. My learned friend, Hon. Peter Munya from Meru, also made a very good presentation and that made him to pass. I wish to dwell a little bit on nominee number six, another learned friend of mine, Mr. Keriako Tobiko, who has been nominated for Environment and Forestry. His competence is vouched. His academic papers right from his secondary school, where in 1984 he was actually the best candidate in the country. He went on to study law. I met him in the university and he eventually left. We have both served as lawyers and he has risen all the way to become the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In the Office of the DPP, which is a constitutional office established under the Constitution of 2010, Mr. Tobiko was able to transform it into one of the most efficient offices in the country. He found only 93 public prosecutors and as he left he had 627. We also had prosecution offices in almost every court house in the country. One may ask why a lawyer of such eminent standing is going to head the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. This is my view: There are many laws that govern the environment, including international treaties, which we must abide by. It is important to have somebody who has a grasp of international treaties and the laws we have in the country, including the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, and other laws that fall under it. These are areas which an expert in law should look into and guide the country as regards the environment. The same applies to forestry, where implementation of the law would require great minds, intervention and critical thinking. It is for that reason that I support Mr. Keriako Tobiko to take over the docket of environment."}