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{
    "id": 945090,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/945090/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 158,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "North Horr, FAP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Chachu Ganya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 18,
        "legal_name": "Francis Chachu Ganya",
        "slug": "francis-ganya"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to support this Bill, the Representation of Special Interest Groups Laws (Amendment Bill) National Assembly Bill No.59 of 2019. As I support, I really want thank the Committee for the good work they have done. This is the only Bill that we actually failed to implement in the last Parliament and yet it is very important. It focusses on the special interest groups, marginalised communities, minorities, youth, women and persons with disabilities. These are the most marginal groups in our society. The law that is supposed to enable them represent the interests of those groups in our Parliament; is the last law that we are enacting having enacted all other laws that we were conditioned to implement by the Constitution. However, it is better late than never. It is here with us now. I really want to thank the Committee for having looked at the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. It is a very thorough Bill and almost all issues or the groups that were defined clearly in the Constitution have been taken care of. The relevant laws that need to be amended have all clearly been identified. The necessary sections that needed to be dealt with have also clearly been articulated in the Bill. So, I really want to appreciate Hon. Kioni’s Committee for a very good job that they have done. Hon. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, this Bill, once enacted into law, will give effect to Article 100 of the Constitution. This is a special Article in the Constitution because it enables special interest groups to have representation in this House. As I said, I really want to salute the Members who belong to these special interest groups for being elected to this Parliament. They are role models to these groups. They are Hon. Wanyonyi, who is serving his second term; the first Senator for Samburu County; and few others who have actually graced this House. They were elected. I hope this law will even enable more of them to be nominated if not elected to serve the interests of the special interest groups. I also want to appreciate you this afternoon because you have guided this House very well in terms of what the Constitution dictates and in terms of how the Constitution defines those groups. It is so that we remain focused and relevant. So, even as we go about doing our amendments, we are well guided. I want to observe that this afternoon. Hon. Speaker, this Bill will come to the aid of some ethnic minorities, who due to their numbers, would never have made it to this House. They include the El Molos of Marsabit County where I come from. At least, the passage of this law will grant them a possibility to represent the special interest groups in this House. Hon. Speaker, a great nation is known by how well it is able to take care of the most vulnerable groups in the society. That is an indicator to measure the greatness of nation. We have a progressive Constitution. Article 100 is in our Constitution. That was thoughtful from the framers of the constitution. I happened to be one of them and I am glad that, eventually, this law is seeing the light of the day. I am sure Members will pass it in this House and it will go to the Senate and the President will sign it into law. I am glad to see that when it comes to nomination, there are clear definitions of who those special interest groups are for them to be nominated by political parties. I disagree with Members who have argued that, in the past, whenever Members were nominated to this august House, it was done on the basis of merit. I have had a chance to serve in this House for three terms and I know that many nominated members who came here; it was because they were relatives and friends of the party leaders. They came from the same community with party leaders or other reasons other than merit or representation of the minority groups in this House. 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."
}