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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wish to support the Bill. I want to agree with my learned senior that, indeed, this is the proverbial first step in a journey of a thousand miles. This being the first Bill that has been brought before this House, I want to urge Members of the House that we must do everything possible to ensure that the new Constitution is implemented. We should not be obstructionist in any way! We should embrace the spirit of consultation, compromise and co-operation in a bipartisan manner to allow this House to discharge the heavy legislative agenda ahead of it, and to also enable us to meet the timelines set. There are serious timelines ahead of us. As my learned senior did say, unless we fast track this process, we might not really be able to beat some of the deadlines. We will need the utmost goodwill of all Members of the House, all parties and all key players in the process. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must also look at where we have come from. Winston Churchill once said that the farther back you look the farther ahead you can see. We must look back and see where we have come from as a country to reach where we are. There were many false starts along the process before we got where we are. Even where we are, we have had a false start in starting off the implementation process after the promulgation. We did have a situation where we took sides and fell back to our party positions. We had to fight over positions in the Implementation Oversight Committee. Kenyans do not really want to know who will be chair, secretary or who will be on this committee or the other. What they really want us to do is to implement this Constitution. What they want is to taste the fruits of their sweat of over 20 years of fighting for this Constitution. We do not want to be like Peter and John, the sons of Zebedeo in the Bible who were fighting for one to sit on the left side and the other on the right side of Jesus. That does not really matter to Kenyans now. Now that we have overcome the first false start, we want to note that as we go ahead there are many Bills that will come; let us co-operate and work together to speed the process. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at the teams that were involved before we got where we are, we had the Committee of Experts that played a very important role. We had the Parliamentary Select Committee. In their places now we will have the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution. We will have the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee. These two teams will play a key role, but we must not forget the role that the CoE and the PSC played to get us where we are. It was very strange that the day when the Committee of Experts was winding up, was on 11th October. Had they done it a day earlier, they would have done it on a historical day, 10th October, 2010. I was surprised to learn that the date 10th October, 2010 only happens in a 100 years. I was also surprised to learn from Mr. Kombo that it takes 830 years to have a month like this one, that has four Fridays, four Saturdays and four Sundays. It is a very strange month. We must congratulate Mr. Nzamba Kitonga and other very able members of his team for the role they played. We must also thank the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs and the Parliamentary Select Committee for their roles that got us where we are. If we were to embrace the same spirit and put our country ahead of our partisan and regional interests, we would be able to achieve what we must achieve within the timelines set. The only issue I had wanted to bring to the notice of the Minister, and I was discussing it with my colleagues; is the issue of the Commissioners who will be appointed. The test of integrity is very important. My learned friend, Mrs. Odhiambo- Mabona did say that we must very strictly invoke the provisions of Article 6 to ensure that the Commissioners who will serve on this Commission will be men and women of integrity, and will move this country to the next level. This is a provision that we must invoke, but we must also invoke the provision for their removal. When you look at Clause 12(2), we have said that if one is to be removed from this Commission, they will be removed from office for behavior or conduct that is incompatible with the functions of the Commission. That is the provision that we have put there for removal. However, I would urge the Minister to look at the provisions of Article 251 of the Constitution that provide for removal of all Commissioners. It has more to it that should be imported---"
}