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{
    "id": 825654,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/825654/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 361,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mosop, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Vincent Tuwei",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13436,
        "legal_name": "Vincent Kipkurui Tuwei",
        "slug": "vincent-kipkurui-tuwei"
    },
    "content": "a petition for or against any Member nominated by the President. It is stipulated very clearly and it is a practice that we have all followed. For one to be vetted, he or she must have been cleared by the relevant authorities. Parliament put up an advert last week calling for anyone with any petition against the nominees before us to submit it. According to what I hear from the Chairman, no adverse memoranda on the eight nominees were presented. It will be unfair to single out a single member on some belief that someone never performed well in an office where he or she was before this appointment. Even us Members of Parliament, the world outside there says that we are not able to perform our duties. We are being condemned everyday outside there by all and sundry. There is a blanket condemnation upon us. One cannot judge this House based on what is being said outside there, rather what is important is an individual Member’s performance. Let me take the example of Praxedes Chepkoech Tororey. She previously worked at the IEBC. Now, where she worked before cannot be the basis for our rejection of her name or even us mentioning her adversely. What took place at the IEBC was not attributable to her directly. It was a collective duty. I remember when we approved the nomination of Sarah Serem, we agreed that in execution of her duties at the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), she was not doing it on her own. It was done as a Commission. Praxedes cannot be held responsible whatsoever on matters of the IEBC or whatever one believes went wrong at that time. To me, that is mere perception. If anything, we were given the opportunity to present an adverse report against her but the Chairman of the Committee never got any. For anyone to impute improper motives on her that she was the cause of the problem at the IEBC is totally unfair to her. Let us give this lady an opportunity to serve. The matter before us is to approve the eight members to oversee the IPOA on how they perform to the satisfaction of Kenyans. A commission is not an individual. It is a collective decision. There are eight members. It would be impossible for each community to have representation in every office. The Constitution limited the Commission to eight or nine members. There are 43 tribes in Kenya. How do we go about this? This Commission constitutionally passes the merit because there are four ladies and four men. The President has tried on this one because the constitutional provision is one-third. Ladies have been given the opportunity to serve. As it is said, ladies are not as corrupt as men. I do not know whether it is true or not. Let them serve on the Commission to prove us right or wrong. The outgoing Commission left a lot to be desired as far as matters of oversight of human rights are concerned. We have brothers, sisters and our sons in the police force. I have relatives and friends in the police force. When a Member or a Kenyan sees the whole police force to be corrupt, I look at that as an abuse. Who can protect our lives and property for 24 hours with the kind of salaries and environment they work in? How many of us know the salaries our police officers earn? It is really low. They have families. The environment they work in is not conducive. I sympathise with them. I urge the new members of IPOA who are now coming in to take over from those who are outgoing to seriously consider the welfare of the police vis à vis their environment and human rights. They also need to be protected from both civilians and human rights activists in this country. Lastly, to be a police officer you have to sacrifice your own life. Being a police officer is a calling. There are communities which if they are put on the front line on some issues, they cannot take it. I come from a community where security is our pride. When some of us were going through the initiation ceremony, the process was similar to the training of policemen. We feel proud of where we are. I urge the police officers who are doing a good job to continue doing 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."
}