Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 995325,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/995325/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 116,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "shall never travel out of the country. It is a way of dealing with the Members. We saw the need to provide such mechanisms. In the law that was passed by this House to provide for that whole process, we also felt that there was need for a Member to be given an opportunity to be heard before he or she is discharged. Maybe, you will be told you have not been contributing in a particular committee or you have been seen idling when you go to the committee. You just go there to gossip. There are all manner of reasons. I used to deal with those things previously, but I no longer deal with them. We have provided an opportunity. The issue Hon. Mogaka is raising is that he has not been given the particulars. For that, you will go and tell the party. What am I responding to? Which law have I violated? What is it that you consider as gross misconduct? This is so that you can be educated by your party. What is considered gross misconduct in one party may be very good conduct in the eyes of another party. I do not prefect political parties. The House, in its wisdom, enacted the Political Parties Act in 2007 which was improved in 2011 to its current form. If you have not been told which laws you have violated or the specifics of misconduct, there is another mechanism provided. That is now the realm of political parties. Once they have dealt with you as provided for in Standing Order No.176 (1) and notified me, the House, in its wisdom, in the last Parliament, provided that the Speaker only has three days to make a communication. Once they have sorted you out and decided to discharge you, my business is only to communicate to you that you have been discharged from this committee so that I do not get into the realm of deciding whether you have violated this or that. I am not supposed to be the one to adjudicate on that. Nevertheless, you have raised a good issue. When you appear before your party or when you respond, you can write to the Whip and tell him that he has not shown you which law you have violated or given you the specifics of misconduct. The Whip will make a decision. If you do not want to appear before him, he will make a decision on whether what you have responded to is sufficient grounds for discharge. Again, when they make that decision, I am not in any way involved. The House was very clear not to go into the details of the hearing before the party mechanism. It will become a dispute between a Member and his party which can either go before the Registrar or the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal. There is that mechanism in the First or Second Schedule of the Political Parties Act. A dispute between a Member and his or her party, between Members and one party or between two, three or more political parties is not in the realm of the House. That is a function of the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal. From there, you can escalate it to the High Court and possibly to the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice. I will not be able to give any reprieve. There are exceptions. If you have not been given a chance to be heard, then I will not accept. You are aware. You cannot say that you were not given a chance. You are only questioning the fact that you have not been given the details. One law could be the Political Parties Act. I do not want to get into that. You have raised an important issue so that all parties know that they are supposed to give details to Members against whom there is intention to discharge from committees of the House. The Speaker shall not be dragged into making a decision as to whether or not that decision was good or not. If it is not good, there is the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal. Nevertheless, it is an important issue, Hon. Mogaka. It affects all the political parties in the House. Let us have the Member for Embakasi. Hon. Babu Ongili."
}