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{
    "id": 805041,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/805041/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 106,
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    "content": "can commit the county government to. With tremendous respect to the drafters of this Bill, I am of the view that we should amend Clause 5 and replace it with an experience of, at least, somebody qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Kenya. This Bill should mirror the responsibilities and the privileges that are enjoyed by the Attorney-General in Article 156 of the Constitution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Clause 8 of this Bill is trying to place the County Attorney as somebody who can walk into court and demand to address the court without seeking the permission of the court. Even the Attorney-General of this country cannot walk into any court of law and say that he wants to be enjoined as a party in any suit. There was a time when the Attorney-General appeared before the Supreme Court and sought to be enjoined in a matter in court, but the judges of the Supreme Court denied him leave. The experience in the Commonwealth has always been that the Attorney-General appears in court in cases where the Government is not a party as a “friend of the court.” This is what the lawyers call amicus curiae . We will be going contrary to the spirit of the Constitution if we create the impression that the County Attorney can walk into court any time and demand to be made a party to any proceedings. The right procedure is that he should seek the leave of the court to be allowed to appear as a friend of the court. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is a good thing to create the office of the solicitor general. This is addressed in Clause 17 and it gives five years experience. However, if we want to help our county governments to have people who can render professional advice without making mistakes, then we should go for somebody who possesses the necessary experience. In my very humble opinion, five years will not be the right number of years we need for that very important office. The experience from the national Government is that a Solicitor-General has the confidence of the President. Similarly, the Solicitor-General for our county governments should also enjoy the confidence of the governors. This is because he will work with the Governor closely, advising him. The experience we have from the national Government is that the President nominates the Solicitor-General subject to approval by the National Assembly. It will be good practice to borrow from the national Government. The Governor can nominate the Solicitor-General subject to the approval of the County Assembly. After that, he can assume office. It will not be a good thing to leave the appointment of the holder of this very key office to the County Public Service Board (CPSB). The Office of the Attorney General serves as a very good ground for training of future lawyers. These are interns. Members of the legal profession have been growing by the day. I have not seen in this Bill whether the office of the County Attorney has been given a leeway to take interns who should be trained as they wait for their admission to the bar. It will be good if we empowered the office of the county attorney to have the discretion to take in interns in our 47 counties who can be trained to become future attorneys. It may be possible that once they finish the internship, they may end up being attorneys in these county governments. It is good if you train somebody for two years and once they qualif,y they can apply to become attorneys in the county governments. We 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."
}