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"id": 861757,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Eldas, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Adan Keynan",
"speaker": {
"id": 41,
"legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very important Bill. On the outset, I want to say this Bill has been subjected to a lot of misinformation, propaganda and misinterpretation of facts. Before I make my informed contribution on this very important Bill, I want to refer Members to the Memorandum of Objects and Reasons on why this Bill is here, why it ought to be here and why we must pass it. The statement of Objects and Reasons of this Bill states that this Bill seeks to repeal and re-enact the Parliamentary Service Act, No.10 of 2000 for the following reasons - Those of us, who are not familiar with the Constitution, I just want them to listen to this. First, the Parliamentary Service Act was enacted under the former Constitution to give effect to the provisions of Section 45A and 45B which established the Parliamentary Service and the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) respectively. These provisions of the former Constitution are no longer in force, and in their place is Article 127 of the Constitution 2010 which establishes a PSC and Article 128 of the Constitution which provides for the offices of the Clerks of the Houses of Parliament and offices of members of staff of the Clerks as offices in the Parliamentary Service. In light of these and other changes in the constitutional regime, it has become necessary to review the Parliamentary Service Act in order to ensure that it complies with the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. In the Second Schedule, and this is why this particular Bill is so critical, it says the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution provided for a period of five years for implementation. We passed the current Constitution on 27th August 2010. We ought to have aligned all laws relating to the new Constitution within five years. This is what it says, five years for any legislation required to implement the Constitution. Although this period was subsequently extended by the House, the Parliamentary Service Act, 2000, needs this review in order to comply with the requirement of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. In this regard, this Act was first published in October, 2015 but was not enacted by the House leading to its lapsing at the end of that last Session. Indeed, the House has already reviewed all other statutes and this is what I want to bring to the attention of the Members. Under Chapter 15 of the Constitution, we have 15 constitutional commissions. Information is power and PSC is one of them. From the promulgation of the new Constitution on 27th August 2010 on 30th August 2011 we passed the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) Act, 2011 which commenced on 27th August 2011. Secondly, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Act, 2011 was passed by this House on 27th August 2011 and the commencement date was 5th September 2011. Again, we passed the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Act on 30th September 2011 and the commencement date was 10th October 2011. The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) Act, 2011, was passed on 27th August 2011 and the commencement date was 30th August 2011. I just want Members to know this because it is very important so that those who are opposed to this Bill understand why we must pass it and why we ought to have passed it many years ago. Equally, we have the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Act, 2011, which we passed on 27th August 2011 and the commencement date was 30th August 2011. The Commission on Administrative Justice Act, 2011, was passed on 27th August 2011 and the commencement date was 30th September 2011. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission 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."
}