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"id": 84564,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/84564/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mrs. Odhiambo-Mabona",
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"speaker": {
"id": 376,
"legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I just want to start by thanking the Minister for elaborately presenting the Bill. I also want to thank hon. Orengo for seconding the Bill and acknowledging inter-generational equity. A lot of times when we hear discourse on human rights and the struggle, we always forget the younger generation. So, I want to thank hon. Orengo, not for myself, but on behalf of several younger people. Not young, because I am not young, but younger people who have been involved in the struggle for this country. For us, as a country, the passing of the Constitution is a challenge. We have for a long time been very negative. We are always criticizing anything that comes out of Kenya. It is important for us as a country to criticize when it is necessary, but also to acknowledge when we do a good thing. For instance, in the Commonwealth Games, we are doing very well. We should congratulate ourselves. We should also congratulate ourselves when we have done well like the passing of the Constitution. That is something we, as a country, should be proud of. This Commission is not a permanent Commission under the Constitution. It has a five year mandate. Because of that, it needs to be smart by having specific duties which are provided under the Constitution. It must also be realistic, have measurable outputs and time bound. I would, therefore, want to encourage the Minister to consider having an amendment to the Bill, so that we can have a very clear road map, which has been the practice of Parliament for most of the Bills. We need to have a very clear road map because with a road map, then we can hold the Commission accountable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at Clause 4(c), it provides that one of the tasks of this Commission is to work with other constitutional Commissions to ensure the spirit and letter of the Constitution is respected. Here, I would also want to encourage the Minister that we should have an amendment to ensure that there are punitive measures where this is not done. Otherwise, we may not get off the culture of impunity. This is because we will be saying that the Constitution provides, but when it is convenient, we ignore what it provides. Even though we have adopted a new governance structure, in our thinking we seem not to move away from the Provincial Administration structure. Therefore, we still move in that direction. If you look at the Constitution of this Commission, it seems to be informed by that thought. It will be important, maybe, if we thought of a leaner Commission. That also goes into the thought of the counties as opposed to the provinces. If you look at Clause 7(1)(d), it makes reference to importing Chapter six of the Constitution on leadership values. I would also want to encourage the Minister if we could adopt amendments, so that we do not basically refer to Chapter six and yet, we are not informed by what it says. We know that within this Bill, there are times we have restated some parts of the Constitution, and it is important. We need to restate it. Chapter six is an important Chapter which needs to be restated here. One of the things we need to provide for is integrity issues. For instance, we had presentations from the civil society, including the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), amongst others, in the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. They were suggesting that if, for instance, as a person who is interested in this Commission, you have not been able to clear your loan with the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), you should not apply. I am very agreed to the approach; if the society has invested in you, you need to equally invest in the society by ensuring that you meet your obligations to it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under Clause 7(2), we need to also restate the zebra approach, which is that if the chairperson is a man, the vice-chairperson should be a woman, and vice versa. Even though that is the constitutional position, it is important for us to restate it in the Bill. I would also want to talk on something the Minister mentioned when he was talking, namely one of the principles that are espoused in the Constitution, which is the principle of public participation. The principle of public participation is actually a human rights-based approach in legislation and programming. When we talk about public participation, it is not merely cosmetic. So, now that it is a constitutional principle, it must be seen to be incorporated in this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am, therefore, suggesting that we need to formulate a very clear way of public participation, either through a reference group akin to what we had in the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, or through expansion of the team that will do the interviews to include other professional bodies such as the LSK, the accountsâ body, and the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida), amongst others. The role of Parliament will increasingly be that of vetting. We must have very clear rules, or a law on vetting. I know that right now we are working on a very strict timeline. So, we may not meet that, but for purposes of laws that will be coming in future, we must ensure that we take that aspect on board. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in relation to Clause 8(13), even though hon. Orengo has spoken on it, we must always remember to have the face of Kenya represented as much as possible within the proposed Commission. I know that I have spoken about a leaner Commission, and that it may not be possible to incorporate everyone. It is, however, worth noting that there was richness and value added to the Committee of Experts (CoE) because we had representation of young persons, persons with special interests in children issues, women, persons with disabilities and persons with HIV/AIDS. We know that getting persons with technical expertise is possible even from those categories. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am very uncomfortable with Clause 8(14), where we say that having vested the Executive with powers, later on we give them other powers to nominate persons who are not vetted--- I would want to suggest that since we are giving the Executive the greater power, if we feel that the way we have formulated it is not strong enough for the Executive, we can strengthen it, but anybody who comes through should be vetted like everybody else. Otherwise, we will be running into the danger of being accused of discrimination. I would also want to say that Clause 13 is unconstitutional, because the Constitution does not provide that after you have served in this Commission, you cannot serve in the public service. In the case of the CoE, it was clear, because it is provided for constitutionally. However, in the case of the Commission, that is not the case. So, if we provide for this, we run the risk of going against the Constitution. So, I would request the Minister to consider that aspect. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in relation to Clause 14, I would also like to say that we need to be very clear what the role of the Secretary is, because we have seen tension in other Commissions emanating from the role of the Chair and the role of the Secretaries. Since we do not want to be derailed, and want to do this work very timeously, can we also come up with amendments which will provide for clear roles of the Secretary? I would also like to suggest amendments to Clause 16(2), where it is provided that the Commission should co-opt members into committees. I think the better way would be for them to engage consultants. If we leave that open, and we do not even give a ceiling as to how many, what if they co-opt 200 members into a committee? It will cease to be a Commission. So, I would suggest that instead of providing for them to co-opt members, that we provide for them to consider actually hiring persons as experts. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}