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{
    "id": 798766,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/798766/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 337,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Impunity and corruption are becoming a culture in this country and people are given appointments to offices that they do not merit. The people of Kenya are losing faith in the court systems which are also very expensive and complicated. Some of the issues that need to be solved are issues that can be brought to a closure very easily. I was looking at the report of the Office of the Ombudsman for the previous year and they have detailed the number of cases that they have dealt with, case by case. I could see that they have done a lot. From the onset, I think of what happened to that office, is that there was probably not enough publicity. I think that office has been too courteous and busy doing their work yet sometimes one has to shout from the rooftop so people know that you are there. I am sure that Hon. Otiende Amollo did a good job but very few people know about this office. That is why this office has to be devolved to the counties so that people know and we do not congest our Judiciary and legal systems with chicken cases and wife theft case. Somebody wondered how a wife can be stolen. The Ombudsman can explain that to us better. Madam Temporary Speaker, there are many cases. These days we hear of cases where somebody has shot the other, the wife has shot the husband and many other family disputes. Disputes to do with land and inequalities that we are struggling with are what they should be dealing with. I liked the traditional system that dealt with that so diligently and effectively. In my mind, it seems to have been replaced by the Office of the Ombudsman. The imagery that Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. has drawn to the sort of power and assertion that the Ombudsman should and the means that the Government has to support and push for such an ombudsman to have the capacity at the county and national levels. I am sure that we will amend that Bill to get the right Ombudsman with the counties. We must get people of merit whose behaviour, reputation and character is not in dispute. If we do not do that, the problems is that we will have models for the ombudsman place because it will look like a job creation yet we all know what job creation means in the Kenyan context. I hear Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. saying “yes”. We must get the right person in the right office for the ombudsman job. I would like to inform Sen. Were that even as talk about it, we should also make sure that the two-thirds gender rule is applied. Let us have women ombudsmen coming up to show their leadership. Women are well known for sorting out matters of discipline. I support this. In light of having such widespread impunity, now rather than tomorrow, this needs to come in the form of an amendment or a Bill. I am sure that we will support it and the National Assembly will not have a problem. It should be able to deepen our administrative justice reforms which are critical. We need to devolve the office closer to the people geographically and in terms of proximity. It will also ensure that there is better coordination and monitoring. People will look at and address these cases for better accessibility. A public notice and document has to be made to let people know that the services of the ombudsman are free so that we do not have people picking on this and charging services like birth certificates and notifications. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, on a light note, the other day we had floods and people standing on the doors of matatus to help passengers who had to choose between walking through the water or paying to be carried on the shoulders because Kenyans are 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."
}