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"speaker_name": "Mumias East, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Benjamin Washiali",
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"legal_name": "Benjamin Jomo Washiali",
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"content": "have had, I think it is important that we quickly agree with them so that we can benefit maximum from the sittings of this House. I thank the Mover because while moving, he commented that this will increase the participation of this House. However, from the whip’s desk, I thank Members of this House for being proactive and sensitive. Whenever we had an issue with quorum and I went out there to whip them, I confirm to you, Hon. Speaker, that they have always been willing to come in and participate in the proceedings of this House. Therefore, I take this opportunity to thank Members. Even though the threshold was increased from 30 to 50 Members, that has not been a problem for us because we have always had the relevant quorum to transact the business of this House. On the issue of question time, I was in this House with my boss, Hon. Duale. The Question Time was the most popular session of the House and many Members would ask questions and walk out because they had already done their business. What I want to add is that the opportunity of Members asking questions will reduce the number of petitions that Members bring in this House. The opportunity of Members asking questions will reduce the number of statements that Members come with. This is because petitions take time and they are also equally very expensive. Once a petition comes to the Floor of the House, it is referred to the relevant committee which now then goes ahead to seek for evidence, call witness and all that. It may take as much as 60 days, but when the opportunity of asking questions will come, what we receive here as petitions may be cleared in 14 days. This is because they will come in form of questions and the CS will respond and the supplementary questions asked will be answered. I am sure if this opportunity of asking questions would have been there, the issue of sugar would not have gone where it reached because we did not have the opportunity to ask questions. We let matters build and stay and they had to get to the levels that they reached and that is why the issue of sugar has taken the dimension it has taken. To me, the question of CSs being too busy to attend to questions is neither here nor there because with the introduction of the Chief Administrative Secretaries, when CSs are busy dealing with other issues of development, the CASs can stand in for them so that the aspect of answering questions is not deferred. I have been looking at these amendments and, maybe, as we go to the Committee of the whole House, I may propose some amendments. They are not really serious amendments. For example, we are meant to delete the words “and participate in” but again in Clause 4, we are again reintroducing participation through the back door. So, it is up to the House to decide whether they want to remove the participation or not. Hon. Speaker, allow me to raise something that, as a House, we may find a problem in future. This Parliament subscribes to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) procedures and the position of a whip is one that is recognised by the CPA. Therefore, this House, through the Standing Orders, must come out with clear clauses on how we establish the office of whip. This is because as it is, the way we have referred to the whip in the Standing Orders is just some roles. How we establish the office of the whip is not clearly spelt out. That is why, maybe, someone went on radio and was even imagining that they can remove me as a chief whip. Maybe, in the Standing Orders it is not clearly spelt out how you establish the office of the whip and how you even remove a whip in case there is some conflict. Therefore, going into the future, we request the chairman who is here listening keenly that the Procedure and House Rules and Committee must find a way of establishing that. This is because the office of a whip is very important in this House because of the role we play and among other roles, it is us who report to you the decision of the parties on who has been identified as the leadership for both the majority and minority. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}