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{
    "id": 849424,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/849424/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 463,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "I can see the protest from my good friend and neighbour, Sen. Omogeni. Therefore, I will try and be extremely careful, because I do not want to be in trouble with him, should I fall afoul with the law one day. Of course, I may need his services or those of the former State Prosecutor, the Deputy Majority Whip, Sen. Kihika. However, I keep telling you, my good friends, that despite the fact that you are advocates of the High Court, when you are making laws, 95 per cent of the people that vote for you and sent you to this House are not lawyers. Therefore, when you create jobs and only limit them to lawyers, you are doing a disservice to the people who sent you to this House. You are being insincere, unless there is a very compelling reason the Executive Director of this board needs to be an advocate of the High Court. I am sure the board has a legal directorate which can provide legal advice if there are any issues that are of a legal nature and advice is needed. It is not something I feel extremely strong about, but it is a complaint and protest that I will continue to issue in this House. It will be my signature protest with regard to every Bill where advocates try and ring-fence jobs for themselves, just as they did with the Constitution. There is the other issue - at least it was not included in this particular Bill - where we are putting every agency to be headquartered in Nairobi. Those are two things that I will always protest in all my contributions. In all the Bills that I will bring to this House, you will notice that I will not make that mistake. The headquarters will not be in Nairobi and the Executive Director will be from any other profession, unless there is need that they should be from a specific profession. Under Part VII, in the current law it is provided that the board shall issue a certificate to an organization which intends to carry out businesses of copyright collecting society. This is important because many of the content creators, unless properly organized, do not have the individual capacity to go after the infringers of their rights. Therefore, we have to provide a way for them to organize themselves and ensure that the copyright bodies formed live up to the initial purpose they were created for. It is unfortunate and disturbing that almost every board that we are creating in this country becomes another toll station, instead of serving the people it was intended to serve. They end up being tax collation centers. What is wrong with us Kenyans? The time has come for us to ask ourselves whether it is within our natural DNA to be corrupt and steal. This is because every other agency we create to provide checks and balances ends up receiving bribes and ensuring that those who break the law get away after paying some amount. Whoever said that we can never legislate good morals was right. The time has come for us, as a nation, to have a discussion and ask what is it we can do about the challenges that continue to bedevil us. It is my hope that those copyright collecting societies will try and be better than the current Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK). They occasionally stop you on the road and check if your car has a The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}