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{
    "id": 852630,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/852630/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 303,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "happening out there in the public space. Therefore, what else would make this Committee to hold anyone responsible that is far beyond the institutions provided for in the Constitution that finds criminal culpability of any individual? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am saying this with utmost respect because I had the same problem with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly. There was a client who was represented by a firm that I have an interest in and the Committee said that the client was good, committed no mistake or made no offence; the contracts were fine and that they were paid rightly so. However, there was no relationship between the findings of the report and its conclusion. They went ahead and said that the law firm must be held responsible for money laundering and, consequently, that the partners and management of the law firm must be charged. Therefore, you wonder about some conclusions that are made in this country. I know how it pains to live out there with a report that seemingly indicts you, even though the capacity of that institution to indict you does not exist. You will have to live with a report that says that you should be held responsible, yet the persons who are supposed to hold you responsible and investigate are already investigating and could find that you are not responsible. Secondly, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have read some of the documentation in this Report. Looking at the layers of approvals that are required for purposes of submitting that land, it is not just the CS who was involved in the approvals. An opinion came from the Attorney-General’s Office and the National Land Commission (NLC). However, they are now saying that we should investigate that Commission. The Land Act, 2012, is clear that all compulsory acquisition of land is not done by the parent Ministry, the parent national organization or the organ of Government. We read this yesterday when we were attempting to amend the land law. It is the duty of the NLC to acquire land on behalf of both the national Government and county governments; it is not the duty of the individual institution to do so. That is why, in the letters that have been provided, the Principal Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary (CS) wrote to the Commission and told them to investigate if they should pay those people and if that is the right way to regularize the school. Once the Commission gives that okay and the Attorney-General gives an opinion, I think that it will be extremely unfair to leave those institutions then generally investigate and say that the people to be held responsible are the third party or the beneficiaries of that process, who sought the proper legal processes. I would never want our Senate to be part and parcel of a process that encourages mob justice for purposes of looking like we are a good place. Yes, we have done a good job and most parts of the Report are good. I make my views public. When those issues were happening in the National Assembly Committee, I asked myself when a Committee turns itself from being an inquiry Committee into an investigative Committee for purposes of criminal culpability. Those are constitutional issues that we must find ways of separating. The duty of our House is to inquire and to provide information that will be used by the institution of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), who cannot be directed not even by us, to do proper investigations that will find criminal culpability of any individual. 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."
}