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"id": 868655,
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"speaker_name": "Kieni, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kanini Kega",
"speaker": {
"id": 1813,
"legal_name": "James Mathenge Kanini Kega",
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"content": "your constituency to get the views of your constituents and do the work. As Members of Parliament, we never go on holiday. We are always at work. As I second this Bill, I want to say that it was tabled on 17th July 2018. As it is normal practice, we had to do public participation. We placed an advertisement in the newspapers on 7th July, 2018. Unfortunately, we only received one reply via email from one James Robert Sakwa. We felt that it was not sufficient. Getting only one response and yet this is a very important Bill, we felt we needed to do more consultations. We have also engaged stakeholders, including the Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS). We called them and they explained themselves to the Committee. I thank them so much. We held very many meetings with them in order to, first of all, understand what this Bill means. Some of the highlights of the Bill have been ably put across by the Leader of the Majority Party. He has clearly elaborated what it entails. We have captured most of these things in our Report which we will bring at the appropriate time, that is, during the Third Reading. At that point, we will make the appropriate amendments. One of the highlights I would like to put across today is that KENAS is the only national accredited body that gives formal recognition to certified bodies, inspection bodies and laboratories. It gives recognition to testing and calibration. It ensures that medical, veterinary, pharmaceutical proficiency tests and scheme providers are competent to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. Furthermore, we also note that accreditation is a formal third-party confirmation that conformity assessment bodies are competent to carry out specific conformity assessment activities. Conformity assessment bodies are those that assess compliance to ensure conformance of products, services and supplies with regard to specific guided requirements. The examples here are testing, calibration of laboratories, proficiency testing laboratories, inspection, verification bodies, medical laboratories, certification bodies and so on. We export goods as a country. Those goods need to be trusted that they meet basic standards. At the same time, the goods coming into this country need to be confirmed whether they are of the right standards. Another highlight in the amendments is on members who will be on the board. We have, as a Committee, clearly considered the suggestion that we should have representatives from consumer organisations. We have clearly indicated that the body that will be nominating persons to sit on the board must be registered. That is so that we do not give the leeway to the Cabinet Secretary to appoint a person, maybe, just because he is in a consumer organisation. We have said that it has to be registered. I do not want to repeat the very many issues that were touched on by the Mover, who is the Leader of the Majority Party. As I conclude, I want to say that the Kenya Accreditation Bill 2018 has the primary objective of establishing the Kenya Accreditation Service; recognising it as the sole body created for the purpose of carrying out accreditation of conformity assessment bodies; establishing an internationally recognised accreditation system; promoting accreditation for facilitation of trade and enhancement of health safety, environmental protection, economic performance and transformation of Kenya; and, promoting the competence and professionalism of accredited bodies. The enactment of the Kenya Accreditation Service Bill 2018 will revolutionize the standards on conformity in the country and, in effect, set the stage for international recognition of products from Kenya. 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."
}