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{
    "id": 780176,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/780176/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 221,
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    "content": "assumption of office of deputy governor. Sen. Wamatangi and the rest of us have to figure out where to lay this properly. The Bill by the Senate Majority Leader has the provision on assumption of office in the absence of the deputy governor and if a governor dies like in the case of Nyeri and Nairobi counties. The Bill on impeachment also has these provisions. So, we must find a good place to house it. Otherwise we should synchronise all of them. For the record, this is what the Supreme Court said:- “We adopt the observations of the court in earlier advisory provisions on Article 59. In Article 61, the foregoing principles call for the reading of Article 182 of the Constitution alongside Article 149 which makes provisions for the procedure and timelines for filling the vacancy of the office of the deputy president.” In law, we call them statutes in pari materia. “From the signal embodied in Article 149 and in the absence of any applicable legislation, we hold that where a vacancy occurs in the office of deputy county governor, the governor shall within 14 days nominate a person to fill that vacancy. The county assembly shall vote on the nomination within 60 days after receiving it and where the vacancy occurs in both offices of the governor and deputy at the same time, the office of the county governor shall remain vacant until election of a new governor.” This matter is now open and shut. All we need to do is to pass Clauses 13 and 14 of Sen. Wamatangi’s Bill to be in line with the Supreme Court’s advisory opinion issued by the court last week. In my own view, it should mirror Article 149 of the Constitution. I hope the dialogue between the President and the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga will culminate in constitutional amendments. This is one of the things that should find its place somewhere in Article 182, so that we do not have to mirror Article 149, so that it becomes legal. This is an exceptional circumstance which the Supreme Court has found wise and the Supreme Court is forever wise that Sen. Wamatangi was right all along. Sen. Wamatangi has proposed a committee but I have a problem with that. First of all, the committees in most of the counties sat for too long and in some cases like the county Government of Kisumu, they left a bill of over Kshs2 million. You may wonder what they were doing. They are taking the assumption of office too far. The idea of assumption of office is to provide a healthy environment, security, a ceremony and a platform. I want Sen. Wamatangi to read with me Clause 5(2)(k) where the Bill makes a provision for two persons nominated by the governor-elect. If the committee is to sit 30 days before elections, the two representatives of the governor-elect will not be there. So, there must be an amendment stating that the two persons nominated by the governor-elect will sit once after the results of the elections have been declared. We do not have to wait for 21 days to swear a governor. Some of the outgoing governors could be mischievous. I propose that immediately after elections, if the committee is to sit 30 days before elections, we must have assumption of office within seven days and, at most 10. We cannot afford to wait. What if the governor becomes rogue and sends goons to the county or it becomes impossible to have an assumption and swearing-in? I personally propose that we make the process shorter, so that the county can move on as quickly as possible. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}