Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 833624,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/833624/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Before I get there, let me limit myself and quickly speak to the content and material matter of the Bill. Clause 3 of the Bill provides for the schedules or what would be considered the prerequisites that need to be met before we can determine whether or not a petition is properly before a county assembly. Very good proposals have been made by this Bill, but unfortunately, there are some that I hold a totally different view about. Some of them were touched on by Sen. Murkomen and Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. when they made their contribution to this Bill. Of course, language interests me a lot because, first of all, it is what I studied at the university. It is also because it is God’s gift to us as the human race. It is the only thing that distinguishes the human race from animals. This is the ability to converse in a distinct language only understood by a certain group of people who either share a cultural or geographical heritage. Therefore, for us to seek to limit the presentation of petitions before county assemblies to only English and Kiswahili, I think we are falling into the already laid trap of believing that a good command of English or Swahili is a measure of intelligence. I disagree strongly and say that it is not. Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the strongest petitions that I have heard of before was presented by an old lady who went before the County Assembly of Kericho and presented her pleas in the local Kipsigis dialect. This is because she had been moved out of her ancestral land and a tea multinational company had taken ownership of her farm. However, the petition was informal and did not actually get to be properly debated before the County Assembly. Because of lack of proper procedure, the First County Assembly of Kericho quickly organised for a fundraiser to buy the old lady a small piece of land and put up a structure for her. I think she now lives there happily. If we limit the presentation of petitions to county assemblies to either English and Kiswahili, what will happen to such members of society who do not understand either of these two languages, but have issues that will ordinarily be addressed and properly settled by our county assemblies? I, therefore, propose that when we later get to amending this Bill, this is one of my proposals for your consideration, Sen. Pareno. Under Clause 3(f), the Bill speaks of having the subject matter indicated on every sheet if consists of more than one sheet. I have a bit of a challenge. I understand what you are trying to cure here, but we do not want would be considered to be material evidence to be introduced to the petition outside of the prayers of the petitioners. Sometimes when we make law to be too descriptive, we end up curing more than what we intended to. In doing so, we introduce barriers to access of justice by the public. Later on, when somebody challenges the procedure of how a petition ended up before the Assembly, you will find that even these small details like whether this particular regulation was adhered to in the format in which it was presented would come into play. If it was not, somebody may challenge in court and say that the petition was not properly before the House of Parliament. I do not know whether you wish to continue with Clause 3(f), but it is subject to your own thinking and consideration."
}