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{
    "id": 991449,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/991449/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 295,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kuresoi North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Moses Cheboi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 329,
        "legal_name": "Moses Kipkemboi Cheboi",
        "slug": "moses-cheboi"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion: THAT, this House adopts the Fourth Report of the Procedure and House Rules Committee on Amendments to the Standing Orders to Facilitate Virtual Sittings of the House and its Committees, laid on the Table of the House on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, and pursuant to provisions of Article 124(1) of the Constitution and Standing Order 265- (i) resolves to amend its Standing Orders as contained in the Schedule to the Report; and, (ii) orders that the amendments to the Standing Orders as contained in the Schedule to the Report come into effect on Monday, 18th May 2020. I will be very brief because I know Members already have the document and I have also decided that I allow the gentleman who will be seconding me to do most of the talking. I know him to have really sat through this, particularly as the Chair of a Sub-Committee that was created by that Committee. We held a meeting and, as I move this Motion, Members will agree that we are operating under very unprecedented times – times that have not been seen in recent history. It is because of the COVID-19 pandemic which is a global pandemic that requires rethinking the operations of many institutions in the world. Hon. Speaker, we looked at various jurisdictions. We thank you because you moved very quickly and made the workings of the House favourable to Members when this pandemic was declared in Kenya. There are many things you have done which were not even done and have not been done in other Parliaments. We have looked at many Parliaments world over. We have looked at the House of Commons which works in almost the same way as ours. We have looked at the Congress in the US. We have even looked at the other House in the UK, the Senate, and seen that every House is trying to adapt to new procedures where they are able to keep safe from this pandemic as they work. We did not want to really look at it as a COVID-19 measure. We want to look at it as any other pandemic that might arise in future so that when we change the Standing Orders, it will, in the meantime, work against the COVID-19 pandemic. But, in future, should there be any other situation, it will be able to cater for that. So, following the declaration of this as a global pandemic by the WHO on 11th March 2020, various public health protocols were instituted, including reduction of large public gathering to reduce contact among citizens. This followed the increased number of cases both at its epicenter which was Wuhan in China as well as in other countries thereafter. Those developments saw the unprecedented measures including closure of schools which has been done in Kenya and many other countries, reduction of the number of staff working in their workplaces and, hence, the famous term “work from home”. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}