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{
    "id": 956319,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/956319/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 166,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "committees has power to summon any person to appear before it to give evidence and/or information. Now, to the extent that we have not made provision of how strangers will appear before us here to give us information or evidence, we need to address that. We will want to seek the assistance of some of the legal minds like Hon. Otiende Amollo since he is the only member of the Committee of Experts who is a Member of this House to tell us what they had in mind. We do not want to guess the intention of the framers of the Constitution in Article 125 when you provided that each House of Parliament or any of its committees may summon any person before it to give evidence or to give information. How was it intended to be actioned on by the Houses sitting in the plenary? Hon. Gitonga Murugara, please, help us. How do we action this? Some of the problems that Members have here with responses are as a result of us not having made provision for that. Yes, they can appear before committees. I have seen the other House has done away with the strictures of not inviting strangers. Maybe, we need to begin thinking of how to deal with such strangers because they will still be strangers. Maybe, we need to make some provision; something like a dock or a witness box where such strangers will appear and respond to questions and statements sought in plenary. We should be proactive in how we interpret some of these provisions. I can see the Member for Mathare is very happy to provide some input but, please, just sit and think through this in light of some of the reasons why Cabinet Secretaries are not allowed into the plenary. We need to think about this because we do not want also to hamstring ourselves. By not thinking of ways of getting these people to appear before the plenary and respond, it could be one of the reasons why Members tend to get frustrated seeking statements and answers from Cabinet Secretaries who, sometimes, do not even appear before committees. We should be able to look for a way of dealing with this particular aspect. That will be sorted out that way. The Chair of Budget and Appropriations Committee wanted to make a statement. Is he away?"
}