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{
"id": 1625122,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625122/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I am a member of the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations. I stand to applaud Mr. Laban Omusundi for his very progressive petitions to this House and to Parliament that are very momentous and relevant to the times of our nation at the moment. The issues raised by Mr. Laban Omusundi in terms of barring the appending of personal images and names on public projects is an important issue that is at the core of the values and principles of the Constitution. To be precise, Article 10 requires that the governance system in this country shall be accountable and transparent. Chapter Six has very key provisions on leadership and integrity. When it comes to responsibilities expected of leaders in this country, Article 73 (2) (1) requires that leaders shall be honest in the execution of public duties. When I am advanced or I use public resources to develop a project and then I call it a Catherine Mumma Project, that is clear evidence of dishonesty. Those who are currently appending their names on public projects are in violation of Chapter Six of our Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Article 75(1b) is also relevant on this matter. It talks about the conduct of state officers and requires that state officers shall not compromise any public or official interest in favor of personal interest. When I take my picture, my name and append it on a classroom built by public resources that I have some supervision over, I am compromising public interest for personal gain. How do I do so? I want those in the public to believe that I am the one who has done that, usually, so that they can elect me at the next election. It is a violation of Chapter Six of the Constitution in clear terms. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what Mr. Omusundi has raised, and I told him when we were doing public participation, is that the only thing I regretted about his Petition was the fact that he was restricting it to governors and MCAs. This is a Petition that touches on both the national and county government officials. This includes us in the Parliament. We have also fallen into the trap of appending our pictures and names on public projects implemented with public resources. We have made the public imagine that we are the ones funding those projects. I believe beyond what we have recommended as a Committee. I call upon Mr. Omusundi and others who would go for public interest litigation that any public officer who appends their name on public projects should, on the basis of the Articles that I have just read, be barred from standing for public office. In fact, they need to be barred from holding any public office. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1625123,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625123/?format=api",
"text_counter": 338,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, you might be aware that in every law we have implemented, and I was a member of the Commission on Implementation of the Constitution, we made it a requirement that before anybody is appointed or elected into public office, they should be compliant with Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. I have just demonstrated how what Mr. Laban Omusundi is talking about is a violation of Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. As we ask the EACC to name and shame, my view is that this should not be enough. It should be one ground, which the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should use against those officers. They should bar all of them from seeking electoral positions after dishonestly presenting public projects as though they are personal This conduct is flourishing in our country because we have not legislated on civic education 15 years after the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. We are supposed to invest in civic education as a country. This will help educate the public, especially the vulnerable. It helps them understand when public officers abuse office or misappropriate resources. I am using this word, “misappropriate”, very carefully. By suggesting that I am the one who delivered a project when I did not, in my view, that is misappropriation. I am actually pretending and lying to the public that by my power and finances, I have delivered a project, when I have not. Mr. Deputy Speaker, you know the impact of these lies to the public. Many poor people have ended up not making proper choices in elections because they are misled. For example, by the fact that an electoral officer gives them a cheque of Kshs2,000, the voter feels they owe a vote because they received it. Many poor families believe that bursaries from public funds come from individuals. They think the person handing out the cheque is using their own money. That is why, when Sen. Karungo tabled a Bill to amalgamate bursaries into a fund that goes directly to schools, I supported it. We have reached a place where we must recollect, introspect and correct where we have gone wrong as a country. One of our biggest mistakes is the misappropriation of office. Elected leaders mislead the public. They make people think national resources are ours and that we can dish them out in our own name and as we wish. Instances of corruption has gone to high heavens because of that. Mr. Omusundi, you have brought a very good Petition that should be listened to and taken seriously. In my view, all Kenyans of goodwill should support it. The civil society, those listening, citizens who understand the Constitution, those of us in elective and appointive offices should understand the need to separate public from personal interest. As we move forward, I wonder whether we need more legislation. We have many Chapter 15 commissions in this country that can assist us to implement some of these issues. We are asking for more people willing to move Petitions like Mr. Omusundi has done; people who are willing to go to court. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) and the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) can, on their own motion, take on these issues and move them to their logical conclusion. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1625124,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625124/?format=api",
"text_counter": 339,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "As I sit, I am glad that Senators have taken Mr. Omusundi’s Petition seriously and debated it at length. In my view, the country needs to redirect itself in order to get back on track from tens of years of nurturing a bad habit; a habit that may very well throw us off the cliff. I hope our students who are learning will also understand that this is important. As you grow up, you need to know that the fact an MP has given you a bursary does not mean it is their personal money. It is money that has been appropriated by Parliament for purposes of education. They need to be doing so humbly, indicating how much they received for the bursary kitty and how it is allocated. Those who have done it well have usually allowed the public to determine for themselves the most needy, and they have openly shared. Mr. Omusundi has raised, as I began by saying, a matter of accountability. We cannot account if we say public money is ours. We cannot account if we make an arbitrary decision that since a certain village largely voted against me or my opponent, they will not get particular services. We need to get to that level where the public or the villagers will just know they had been allocated millions of shillings for a road and want to know whether that road is worth the millions they were allocated. When we move to that level and start understanding the costs of projects, we will have less misappropriation of both our offices and public funds that are assigned to our offices or related to our offices. Mr. Omusundi, I do not know whether you are listening out there. Whoever else is listening, thank you so much for giving us opportunity to canvass and discuss this issue in this country. In my view, an issue which does not need any law to be passed, is one that needs to be implemented. It is an issue that is important for policy for this reason, when I become Governor and then we have Mumma Care, Sen. Thang’wa takes over and because Sen. Thang’wa hates Catherine, he decides he is moving away Mumma Care and now it is Thang’wa Care. When Asige takes over, Asige says it is now Asige Care. We do not even know what we are communicating. When Beatrice takes over, she wants it to be called Abito Care. Why are we personalising public service? If we think this programme is good for maternal health, let it just be a good programme for maternal health that must be retained by every next government. We must not play around with services to our people where we decide this is about a mix for Catherine Mumma, the next mix is for so-and-so and that is what we have done with our education system. Every President who comes wants their variation of an education system. In the meantime, their own children are not going to those education systems. They have taken them to international schools and they are experimenting with others. We must decide this program is good for our nation and we are going to continue regardless of whether the previous President was a good President or not in my view. We must learn to get to the place where we praise a good program for what it is, regardless of what we think of whoever is doing it. The best way to do it is to stop naming programs after ourselves and stop calling ourselves the patrons and the matrons of all these public programs. We have a programme in Nyakach which was built by one Member of Parliament (MP) and 10 years later has never been used because another MP has never seen the need The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1625125,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625125/?format=api",
"text_counter": 340,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "to use that facility. People of that village are now requesting to use this building, give it to the county government so that it can make a hospital out of it because we have issues with women delivering. However, because Catherine did not like what Asige did, Catherine decides she will not continue with the good project that Asige did. So, we must remove our names and pictures from projects. We must allow public projects to remain public projects and if we do so, the personal benefit will move away and even elections now become level playing field."
},
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"id": 1625126,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625126/?format=api",
"text_counter": 341,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Interruption of debate on Motion)"
},
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"id": 1625127,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625127/?format=api",
"text_counter": 342,
"type": "heading",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR"
},
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"id": 1625128,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625128/?format=api",
"text_counter": 343,
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"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "VISITING TEACHERS AND STUDENTS FROM KIPSOEN BOYS HIGHSCHOOL"
},
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"id": 1625129,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625129/?format=api",
"text_counter": 344,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "The Deputy Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Senators, I would like to acknowledge the presence in the public gallery this afternoon of visiting teachers and students from Kipsoen Boys High School in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The delegation comprises three teachers and 48 students who are in the Senate for a one-day academic exposition. Hon. Senators, in our usual tradition of receiving and welcoming visitors to Parliament, I extend a warm welcome to them. On behalf of the Senate and my own behalf, I wish them a fruitful visit. Thank you. Since the Senator representing Elgeyo-Marakwet County is out on other duties, I would like Sen. Asige to welcome the visitors from Elgeyo-Marakwet."
},
{
"id": 1625130,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625130/?format=api",
"text_counter": 345,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Crystal Asige",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you for the opportunity to give a warm welcome to the Boys School from Elgeyo-Marakwet. I welcome you heartily to the Senate. I am hoping that you have not just enjoyable, but also educational visit, and you get to meet and understand the mandate that we hold here in the Senate as Members of Parliament representing your county and other counties across the nation. As a young person myself here in the Senate representing youth, women, and persons with disabilities because I also have a disability myself, which is visual, I just wanted to encourage the young men amongst us today that they be here in this position that we are sitting in. Since they are not the future generation, they are the generation for today. I hope and pray that they believe and see that they can change this nation. They can definitely give us a brighter future. I hope you make better decisions than some of our past legislators and maybe some of us might make here and there. We do make mistakes as well, but learn from us and do better than us in future."
},
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"id": 1625131,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1625131/?format=api",
"text_counter": 346,
"type": "scene",
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"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Resumption of debate on Motion)"
}
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