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"id": 84558,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/84558/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
"speaker": {
"id": 129,
"legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
"slug": "james-orengo"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to commend the Minister for the able manner in which he has moved this Bill. In fact, when it comes to the content, details and process of the Bill, one would not really have anything more to add. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad to be seconding this Bill in this very Chamber. As I said last time, this Chamber has had many historical moments when our own founding fathers were demanding a new Kenya based on a new constitutional order. Those battles ended up in Lancaster where we had a constitution, but that process of constitution making was not homegrown. It was a document received from the colonial power. But this time round, we can say with confidence and a sense of pride that every consequential legislation that will be brought before this august House is based on a Constitution which has been enacted by the Kenyan people. The Kenyan people turned out in large numbers to vote overwhelmingly for a new Constitution, which now requires of us to enact implementing or enabling legislation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is the second step we are making after the enactment of the Constitution. I think the first step was the successful appointment and establishment of the Parliamentary Implementation and Oversight Committee (PICOC) to make the process move forward. This is yet the second step and there have been some difficulties on this issue, as the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs has indicated, as to whether or not this Bill could come before the House without the input of the Law Reform Commission and more importantly, this very Commission that is established under the Constitution. Now, its functions and internal procedures are being articulated in this Bill. I remember there is one person who said intellectuals can muse whether the egg or chicken came first. It can be a matter of controversy intellectually in science or any debate. But if you want a meal, it would not be very difficult to decide to eat the chicken or egg. It would just be a matter of choice, especially when you are hungry. I think this chicken and egg situation is appropriately addressed because the consequences of enacting this Bill would be that, indeed, we will be implementing this very important document. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was in this House before, when saying anything in this very Chamber, would cause somebody to be taken to detention or locked up. The famous situation is when both hon. Shikuku and the late Seroney, for making some statements in the House which looked rather ordinary---. The consequence of the statements made in this House was detention without trial. We can say that under this new constitutional order, there will be no Kenyan who will be detained without trial. We are creating a new constitutional order in which every decision made by the Executive, including the President and for the time being when we have transitional arrangements, will be interrogated, particularly on appointments into the public service. That is a new turn of events. You will see that this very Bill sets out the requirements for those who will be appointed as Commissioners; in doing so, there will be strict compliance with the Chapter on this issue and integrity. I dare say that the final product will depend on how we start this long journey so that, if that Commission will consist of men and women of integrity, we will have a democratic and a constitutional system of governance. This is very important. If you look at the functions of the Commission, you will see that it is not just about legislation or preparing Bills for tabling before this House. In fact, in the first provisions relating to functions, it requires the Commission to monitor, facilitate and oversee that development of legislation but, more importantly, legislative procedures required to implement the Constitution. That should be read together with the other function, which is to work with each constitutional commission to ensure that the letter and the spirit of the Constitution are respected. It places the mandate of the Commission beyond just a Commission whose primary mandate is to talk about legislation. It is to ensure that the very principles of constitutionalism as set out in the Constitution are complied with not only in lawmaking legislation, but also in areas that have to do with governance. It is also important to see that in creating the Commission, there is a mischief which was detected in the process of constitution making; that Parliament and the Executive, left on their own, could easily subvert the process of implementing the Constitution. The Commission, which is extra-Parliamentary, has functions which would be exclusive to the Executive and the Legislature. That is why they are required to monitor the entire process. This is critical to ensure that the timelines and the spirit of the new Constitution are not abrogated, if I can use a word which my good friend, Mr. Kajwang, does not like being used anyhow. However, for lack of a better word, I think the spirit is that the Commission should go beyond the call of duty to make sure that the process of implementation has no impediments. I believe that we now need a spirit of bipartisanship to go through the process. Indeed, whenever Kenya has faced strong and insurmountable challenges, the tradition of this country, right from 1952, is for the Kenyan people to come together. That tradition has been repeated many times when the rest of the world thought that Kenya would fall into the brink. We always rose up and in the spirit of unity and bipartisanship; we have done what looked like the impossible. We need not concentrate too much on the past. In this process of implementation, we should not look at what divides us or what the debates were yesterday because as one European said, life can only be understood backwards - I am paraphrasing - but it can only be lived forward. We need to look forward towards the creation of a stronger and a better governed Kenya. In repeating these words, I remember the words of Benjamin Franklin when he was asked about the type of document that came out in the convention that enacted the American Constitution. He said:- âWe have given you a sovereign republic. Issue it and keep it.â Are we going to keep the constitutional arrangement that we have in the current Constitution? I think that will depend on the type of implementing legislation that we will pass and that will guide the process through to a successful end. Many times, I used to believe that to have a new Constitution was a pipe dream. Personally speaking, I was losing hope because men and women died in the process. There are those who were assassinated in the process. I dare say, because hon. George Saitoti is here, that there are those who were poisoned in this process and we cannot overlook that fact. There are those like hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona who were brutally hit in front of a police station in a bid to release a patriot from the atrocities of the police. That was dealing with the kind of governance that we do not want, any day, to be seen in the new Kenya. Even the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, who is my senior, and whom I respect, in order to have this Constitution, as a senior counsel, he had to climb over the gate of the Attorney-Generalâs Office. I am glad that he is now passing through the open gate very quickly. I do not know whether, when he loses the flag, they will open it as expeditiously. Sometimes, we need that reality check. However, on that particular day, when the Senior Counsel was climbing over the gate, the policemen did not understand what he was trying to do. He was on a great journey of trying to create a better and stronger Kenya. Therefore, in the spirit of bipartisanship, because, finally, Parliament will have a say on who will sit in this Commission - we will have a say--- The problem with Kenya is that whenever we are faced with a situation of doing appointments, gender and regional considerations are important. However, sometimes, the debate goes beyond the consideration based on human rights issues which are very well protected in the Constitution. So, in the argument of representation, we must have one person from this area and then anybody can do. That debate also stands on its head when people have committed crimes. Suddenly, when they are made to account for the crimes, people start saying that they are being targeted. Really, you cannot create a new Kenya if you are still caught up in that turmoil. We want to create a new Kenyan person who can account for his conduct and deeds. I am grateful to my learned senior for quoting many wise people who, right from the centuries before Christ--- One person, a great British activist known as John Stuart Mills said:- âThe worth of a State in the long run is the worth of the individuals who compose it.â So, we may have the best laws in the land or the best Constitution in the land but if in the name of regionalism or diversity we do not put our best foot forward, then those men and women who have fought for these changes and have left us, will turn in their graves and say: âThis battle was not worth itâ. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, whenever law ends, tyranny begins. I want to tell the gracious ladies sitting across, that vigilance---. The reason I am very proud about the ladies I am looking at is that, eternal vigilance is important. Nobody should go to sleep that we have a new Constitution. Every self criticism is important. Let us not just sit back and think we have a new Constitution. Every little thing that is done in the name of the Government or in the name of the people or in the name of public office must be interrogated. Every public officer who is given authority like James Orengo here is given authority; I am not given that authority to please myself. I am given it in the public interest. For that matter, it must be interrogated thoroughly. This is the spirit upon which this Commission has been established so that in law making, legislation and implementing the Constitution, we have a reality check and accountability. In that true spirit, we will build a better Kenya for ourselves and for prosperity. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}