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{
    "id": 819225,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/819225/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 156,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kisumu West, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Olago Aluoch",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 5,
        "legal_name": "John Olago Aluoch",
        "slug": "john-aluoch"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. In recommending Hon. Chepkong’a for approval by this House, the Commission has raised certain fundamental issues without knowing. Personally I have served with Hon. Chepkong’a in the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the 11th Parliament. I will come to whether or not he has the qualities that suit him for appointment later. For now, I want to say that although he is my junior in the legal profession, I remember in the 10th Parliament immediately after the promulgation of the Constitution, our committee was made responsible for enacting enabling legislation. We were very busy in the 10th Parliament. The then Attorney-General, Prof. Githu Muigai came up with the draft that was setting out the qualifications of those who were going to be appointed to independent commissions. We were shocked that in one of the drafts he said, “For one to be appointed, he would have to have the following qualifications. But the following qualifications would disqualify you.” He set them out as follows: If you have served as a Member of Parliament or on official political party or that you have been imprisoned… We called him to our committee and asked him whether he was equating a Member of Parliament to being a convict. It was not easy, so we had to redraft the law to get rid of those words. In appointing a former Member of Parliament to a commission like this one, we are doing a fundamental job now and that means we are looking for a man or woman who understands what an MP’s job really entails."
}