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{
"id": 82906,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/82906/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wako",
"speaker_title": "The Attorney-General",
"speaker": {
"id": 208,
"legal_name": "Sylvester Wakoli Bifwoli",
"slug": "wakoli-bifwoli"
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, therefore, I stand to support this Motion because I know Justice Lenaola and Principal Magistrate Emily Ominde very well. I associate myself with the positive remarks that have been made about these two individuals. The only thing that I would like to add in respect of Justice Lenaola is that he has proved that one can be efficient in case management. When he was posted to Machakos, there were very many cases unheard for many years, but within a space of six to nine months, he had cleared the backlog. He was doing another excellent job in Kakamega and so on. So, no wonder that the entire Judiciary, namely, the Association of the Judges and the Magistrates, felt that this is the man who should be on the Judicial Service Commission. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want also to mention the issue about the urgency of enacting the Judicial Service Commission Bill and the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Bill. There is, indeed, an urgency in that. We shall try, as much as possible, to fast-track, first of all, the Bill that we passed in this House on Tuesday, so that the President assents to it quickly, so that it can come into operation within two days after its publication, as we agreed. That will be fast-tracked. The delay in the consideration of the Judicial Service Commission Bill and the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Bill is not a delay about who signed those Bills. If that was the delay, then it will be a very petty delay for refusing to go ahead with the Bills. The delay was to comply with the Constitution, particularly as regards, first, the fact that the Bills that are enacted in implementing this Constitution must be Bills which have been drafted by the Attorney-General in consultation with the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution. Therefore, up and until that Commission is in place, that is when we can now start having Bills coming to this House. As to who will sign them, I will sign them, but I have no objection, whatsoever. In fact, let me inform this House that when I became the Attorney-General, I used to sign all the Bills. I issued a circular in 1991, that whereas I will assist Ministries in the drafting of the Bills, when we have finalized the drafting of the Bill, it is the Minister responsible who will sign that Bill, so that he can take responsibility for the policies of that Bill. Therefore, if somebody else signs for me, I am even happier. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am very glad that hon. Orengo said that he is very glad that the Attorney-General is now a person of the new reform. It did not begin with the new Constitution. It began in 1991 when I was appointed. The person who has just been on your Chair, hon. Gitobu Imanyara, I remember very well that one of the first acts I took after appointment in May, 1991, was to enter a nolle prosequi in his case, which terminated the case and he then came out of his bed at the Kenyatta National Hospital for further treatment. I remember that very clearly because the pictures appeared in the Press. I also terminated the case of the late George Anyona and of everybody. I also in my own way influenced the release of all those people who were in detention. It was a decision of the Attorney-General of the Republic. It was an independent decision. So, the reform did not begin yesterday."
}