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{
    "id": 805035,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/805035/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 100,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "counties for litigation. In some areas, they used close to Kshs1 billion. Nairobi City County is one of the counties which has contributed to a lot of the current pending bills. I support this Bill, but I am a little bit shocked with the way it was drafted. There are certain things which are unnecessary. Certain things are covered by, for instance, the Advocates Code of Conduct. When you look at the personal conduct, for instance, there are certain things which are a little bit vague. I would recommend to the Committee that they reread the Bill and make certain changes. There are few things that I like about the Bill which is what I will refer to. I will also request that it be expanded because certain things are a little bit vague. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is important for each county to control how much they can spend in litigation. By having this Office of the County Attorney, it will then be responsible in responding to all cases for or against the county. One area that will need to be reworked on this Bill is the issue of non-disclosure agreement. I would recommend to the drafters of the Bill to be very specific that each County Attorney who is recruited must begin by signing a non-disclosure agreement. That issue must be very specific because during their tenure, they come across a lot of sensitive information relating to a county. The other issue relates to conflict of interests, which I do not think there is anything wrong with a county being gifted. If the County Attorney is travelling and he is given a gift, that gift belongs to the people of that county. So, it would be un-African to refuse to accept a gift. He or she should accept the gift, declare it and consider it to be property of that county. This is because, if you refuse to accept gifts and yet when you have visitors you gift them, it would be playing double standards. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I looked at the Bill, one of the areas that I thought should be amended is with regard to the qualifications of the County Attorney. One very important thing is for us to respect our societies. Since we have got the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the drafter should consider adding a clause in the Bill that states that for a person to qualify, he or she must be an active member of the LSK and must also have current membership status. He or she must also have practised in this country for quite some time, to be conversant with the way matters are decided here. Another issue which I thought might be a little bit too harsh is where you give the County Attorney the power to summon any officer in the County Public Service to explain any matter. We should use a better word instead of “summon.” This is because, a “summon” is an order. So, it should be to invite any officer in the County Public Service to explain any matter which is subject of litigation. However, when you summon, they might not take the order politely. I like the fact that when you look at Clause 8(2)(c), it says:- “The County Attorney shall comply with any direction of the court, tribunal or any such other administrative body on the nature of pleadings or measures to be taken for purposes of giving effect to the effective discharge of the duties of the Office.” When you traverse this country of Kenya, you will find that a lot of orders which are given by our Judiciary to specific counties are never complied with. So, you will find someone has spent so much money fighting in court and then he or she is awarded costs. 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."
}