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{
    "id": 805106,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/805106/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 171,
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    "content": "and not legal nature, they still put a provision that the chairperson ought to be an advocate of the High Court having served x number of years and so forth. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is the same with many of our constitutional commissions. There is little wonder then that when we put together the Committee on Justice, Legal affairs and Human Rights, they thought through about the many things that they want to consider in matters devolution, justice and legal affairs. They then decided that the first Bill that they want to bring to this House is to create employment for fellow lawyers. That worries me but what do I do? I have to support them because I know the history. The Senate Majority Leader spoke well and said that it is in relation to what happened in the county that I represent in this Senate, that the Senate thought it wise to have the Office of the County Attorney and the rest of the offices that are created by this Bill. This Bill is brilliantly drafted and well thought out in my opinion. It will save us. You will remember that in the last Parliament, there was tabled an extremely damning report before this Senate of colossal amounts of money that counties continue to send to that organisation that sits in Delta House – otherwise known as the Council of Governors (CoG) – to the tune of Kshs1 billion at that time. Out of this amount, almost Kshs300 million had been used to pay for legal services.Many of those cases were not against the county governments but the governors and their persons but county funds continue to be used by lawyers during allocations and payments from CoG. With the enactment of this Bill, I want to believe that such issues will cease to exist in our counties. One of the principle and cardinal duties of this House is to ensure that we protect devolution and continue to clean it up and ensure that on areas where there are inefficiencies, we put our foot down and draw a clean road map. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let me now go into the contents of this Bill and on to Clause 5. I have listened to colleagues contribute and give reservations about the number of years of experience that are expected of a county attorney. Some feel that seven years is perhaps too junior an advocate to sit in this office. However, I totally agree with the Committee that for a brilliant mind, seven years in a profession is enough for you to determine the very nature of work. After all, if there are issues that will be so complex in their nature that your experience as a lawyer will not guide and give you the clarity of mind that you need to execute some of these things---. Later on, it is provided in this Bill that there shall be cooperation between the office of the County Attorney and that of the Attorney-General of the Republic. Therefore, I support this particular provision especially on behalf of the young people of this country, many of whom continue to be denied employment opportunities based on this “giant” they call “experience”. It is later on provided under Clause 7(c) that the county attorney, amongst the powers that they wield in a county, is to summon any officer in the public service to explain a matter. I would wish that is stated more elaborately whether this summoning should be in writing or verbally. This being an extremely litigant nation, it is very possible that if the county attorney gives only verbal summons to a member of staff in the County Public Service, they may choose to ignore it or it will be used to prove that this particular officer did not live up to the summons. 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."
}