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{
    "id": 780185,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/780185/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a few observations to make. Overall, most of the points that I wanted to speak to have already been addressed by the Mover of the Bill, Sen. Wamatangi, and Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. while he was seconding. Therefore, I do not want to repeat. However, there are a few areas of improvement that Sen. Wamatangi may want to consider. Clause 5 (2) talks about the people that shall form an ad hoc committee. In many instances where we have drafted laws, the common practice is to have a committee that consists of an odd number of members for purposes of decision making. When a matter has to be put to the vote, we need to end up having a tie breaker. My count of the number of people that have been proposed to be in the ad hoc committee is 12. It would be a good idea we consider making the number either 11 or 13, to cater for instances where we need a tiebreaker during voting. Otherwise, we may end up having a stalemate. As you know, this is a political cause and people may hold different opinions and certain things may happen. I have also noted in Clause 5 (4) that the Chairperson of this committee is supposed to convene a first meeting of the committee 30 days before the date of the general elections. I want to know what would happen in a re-election cycle. For instance, in every election there will be governors who will be defending their seats, and the chairperson of this committee is a county secretary who is an appointee of the governor. What will the governor say when they hear that we have set up an assumption of office committee? There is some connotation to it. You may be taking the second oath as a newly elected governor, but there is something about it that raises some questions. I do not know how we intend to address that mischief. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the quorum of the meeting is important since the committee sits down and gets to determine the time and venue of the swearing venue. Our country is becoming an increasingly litigant nation. Therefore, the quorum should be looked at so that mischievous people do not go ahead to set up a separate committee elsewhere. One-third of a committee of 12 is four members. We have seen instances in the Kenya during elections where somebody raids a tallying centre just before elections results are declared. Such instances may happen especially given that it is the governor’s seat, which is the second most priced political sit after the President in this country. Such instances will be common in future because people are beginning to understand the importance and the power of devolution. When the quorum is set at four members, we may end up with a dispute because we will have four members on either side. My opinion is that we need to raise the number required to form the quorum for this committee. When making my contributions to various Bills brought before this House, I am always keen on the language we, as lawmakers, use. We always have advisory opinion from the High Courts and the Supreme Court. They keep saying that: “We, as the judges, are not the drafters of law. It is you, as the legislators, who are to amend these pieces of legislation before you bring them to us and they must be in extremely clear language.” I have noted this and raised it with the Directorate of Legal Services. I have told them that on many occasions where we have certain phrases that are common in Bills, 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."
}