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"id": 972084,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Prof.) Jacqueline Oduol",
"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Dennitah Ghati",
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. Because of the debate that was heated in the Committee of the whole House, as I start, I want to thank the Chair. I understand that we have completed the business in the Committee of the whole House. We are now looking at the Report on the State of the Judiciary. Earlier on, I tried, but I did not get an opportunity to contribute. I find this Report useful. It indicates the critical role of restructuring the Judiciary and the place of the Judiciary in the country not only in helping us to address the critical area of justice, but in particular for advancing and stabilising democracy. When you look at the Report that was ably shared, the critical matter that is flagged is how we can ensure the reforms that are on course are sustained. In terms of funding, we should have sufficient funds to ensure that there are adequate facilities and infrastructure to enable the Judiciary to perform its role in an effective and dignified manner. Allow me to elaborate on the concept of representation. When we look at the Judiciary, it plays its independent role as an arm of the Government. When citizens have challenges with the Executive or the Legislature, that is where they go. In this House, I am a representative of what the Constitution calls “special interest groups”. In some cases, this seems to get lost as we interpret this concept. As I support the Report and agree with the Chair, who flagged important matters of concern, allow me to raise the concern that, at times, we are guilty for not trying to get Kenyans to understand the concept of representation. In other words, trying to get every individual citizen or institutions to speak for themselves or look more at quality instead of quantity. I am speaking from the perspective of a Member who has been specially nominated from special interest groups categorised in Article 100 of the Constitution as women. Earlier on, I was concerned that when it comes to representation, we mislead the public. When contributing in the House as two female Members - I understand the commendation that was made when Hon. Millie Odhiambo, a ranking Member, and I, were here when they were discussing that matter. My concern, as we speak about the issue of justice, is that it seems it is expected that when you look at representation, you burden Hon. Members of the female gender with guilt and shame and in a way, you ridicule their contribution when, in fact, they are Members who sufficiently represent Kenyans. The Report acknowledges the central role that the Judiciary plays. Representation does not require that each individual speaks. I want to discourage Kenyans for electing and nominating people to represent them, then when one representative substantively talks about an issue, they try to get every representative to speak on the same. I hope they will desist from that practice. We have 76 female Members of the National Assembly from the total of 349 Members. Whenever we point fingers and say that the female gender appears not to know their roles, we should ask ourselves if we are looking at that from a perspective of fairness that will help us. 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."
}