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{
    "id": 859338,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/859338/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Baringo North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. William Cheptumo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 50,
        "legal_name": "William Cheptumo Kipkiror",
        "slug": "william-kipkiror"
    },
    "content": "approve those regulations, just like we are doing it currently, is the Committee on Delegated Legislation so that if there are issues of concern raised by our leadership of the House, we are able to deal with them through the regulations. Those are the provisions which are envisaged in Clause 46. There is another serious problem. Clause 48 of the Bill seeks to entitle Members of Parliament to diplomatic passports, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 25 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011. I will spend a little time here. I want my colleagues to know that Section 25 of the Kenya Citizens and Immigration Act makes provisions for diplomatic passports to be issued as may be prescribed in regulations. Regulation 14 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Regulations 2012 states... Schedule 3 of the Act lists a number of State officers who are entitled to have diplomatic passports. It will shock Members. The officers include: 1. The President and his family 2. The Prime Minister. Of course, that position is no longer there. It might come back. I am not saying it will not come back, but I am saying it is not there now. 3. The Vice-President and his family 4. Cabinet Secretaries 5. Principal Secretaries 6. Speaker of the National Assembly 7. The Chief Justice 8. The Deputy Chief Justice 9. Supreme Court Judges 10. Court of Appeal Judges 11. Attorney-General 12. Director of Public Prosecutions 13. Solicitor-General 14. Controller of Budget There are 29 State officers. The last one is the Foreign Service Officers’ spouses and dependent children below the age of 19 years. There is no mention of a Member of Parliament. There is no mention of a spouse of a Member of Parliament. So, the person to determine who should be issued with a diplomatic passport is the Cabinet Secretary in charge of security. So, on application, he will choose to or not to. What we just want to do today, through this Bill, is to add Members of Parliament and their spouses to be included in that list of 29. That is not demanding too much. What does it cost? Members of Parliament had been conspicuously omitted from the list and more than 29 State officers and their spouses are entitled to diplomatic passports. The Commission is discriminatory against Members of Parliament in light of the functions of Parliament as set out in the Constitution. Clause 48 of the Bill seeks to remedy this situation. I am about to conclude. I plead with Members that, that is a critical area which we need to look into. Let me just mention a few countries where MPs are automatically issued with diplomatic passports. They include Armenia, Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Togo, Chile, Uganda, Ecuador, Hungary and Romania. The list is long. Kenya should be in that list of countries that honour their MPs and issue them with diplomatic passports because we are a House that travels a lot to serve our country. Clause 49 provides for the transitional provision, the First Schedule deals with the procedure for appointment of a member of the Commission, the Second Schedule deals with the provisions The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}