{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=147547","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=147545","results":[{"id":1493652,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493652/?format=json","text_counter":89,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Dagoretti North, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Beatrice Elachi","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Let me also appreciate the Leader of the Minority Party for bringing up this matter. I thank the Supreme Court because they have gone back to the Supreme Court Act. Indeed, the purpose of the Supreme Court is to deal with public interest. Our aspiration for this country was to have such a court. Under Section 3(c) of the Supreme Court Act (Cap.9B), the objects of the Supreme Court include the development of rich jurisprudence that respects Kenya’s history and traditions, and facilitates its social, economic and political growth. Looking at all the cases 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."},{"id":1493653,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493653/?format=json","text_counter":90,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Dagoretti North, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Beatrice Elachi","speaker":null,"content":"that have gone to the courts, one of the things that the High Court has always disregarded is public interest. What is public good? The Judiciary is an arm of Government that utilises public resources. They receive and spend the resources, and then nullify a whole Bill and yet, they have benefited from that same law. That makes one wonder what happens in our country. We have gone through a rough time on matters of public participation. The last ruling from the Kerugoya High Court forced us to conduct public participation at the constituency level. At least, we have now come to an agreement between the two arms of Government that we just need to notify the public on public participation. Remember that Kenyans are not the type of people who you can force to attend public participation. Some will come but demand facilitation to attend. It is not something that they participate in willingly. That has really hurt many of the decisions that we have made. Just as I said in the morning, we also need to speak to the Senate. That is because most of those cases are not about the courts, but about us as Parliament. We have to re-think the issue of suing each other in court. Lastly, we also need to appeal the case of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) at the Court of Appeal. As much as we know that we will change the law, it is important to appeal to a court that understands public interest. This is a law that has served Kenyans for more than 25 years. What else can you do if you are a court of law? Going through the NG-CDF judgment, you wonder what the judges were reading. It is a very unfortunate judgment. I wish that we could go back and re-look at the judgment on the NG-CDF and deal with it once and for all. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."},{"id":1493654,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493654/?format=json","text_counter":91,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Peter Kaluma","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":1565,"legal_name":"George Peter Opondo Kaluma","slug":"george-peter-opondo-kaluma"},"content":" Hon. Eckomas Mwengi Mutuse."},{"id":1493655,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493655/?format=json","text_counter":92,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kibwezi West, MCCP","speaker_title":"Hon. Mwengi Mutuse","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute on the important issue that has been brought by Hon. Junet Mohamed. In my understanding, the Supreme Court is supposed to balance between the philosophical, technical and political interests of a country. If you look at the historical foundations of the creation of the Supreme Court, right from the United States of America, you will realise that it is supposed to create stability in a country. Therefore, for that particular purpose and historical understanding, allow me to join the rest of the Members of this House in congratulating our Supreme Court Judges for balancing the philosophical, technical and political interests to determine the place of public participation in our governance system. Having said that, and having taken a cursory look at the decision of the Supreme Court, I realise that it laid grounds, factors, and the tests to be relied upon in terms of initiating public participation for legislative work and decisions on policy matters in terms of how those decisions will be processed through the legislative system. Most importantly, it laid grounds for the tests which courts of law will use to determine whether public participation has been applied satisfactorily, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, the invitation to this House to swiftly enact a law on public participation is most welcome. As my Chairman, Hon. George Gitonga Murugara, has said, in the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, we had begun looking at ways of closing this gap. As the Committee of the House which is involved in matters of justice and law, we were also aware that we cannot continue having a legal lacuna in terms of public participation. As Members have aptly put it, a lot of good legislation for the country has been shot down because of misunderstandings where different judges read from different scripts, as to the place of public participation. Therefore, I will be very supportive when the State finally publishes the public participation law in line with the decision of the Supreme Court. As this House considers the issue of public participation, we may also need to consider the issue of a referendum law. This is because hand-in-hand with public participation is the place of a referendum in our governance system. Therefore, I urge the Leader of the Majority Party to also liaise with the Government so that even as we enact a law on public participation, 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."},{"id":1493656,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493656/?format=json","text_counter":93,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kibwezi West, MCCP","speaker_title":"Hon. Mwengi Mutuse","speaker":null,"content":"we also enact one on referenda. This will ensure that our country is adequately resourced legally to deal with those two issues. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute. I also assure the House that having successfully impeached the former Deputy President, I will not impeach any other person soon because we cannot go lower than that."},{"id":1493657,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493657/?format=json","text_counter":94,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Peter Kaluma","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":1565,"legal_name":"George Peter Opondo Kaluma","slug":"george-peter-opondo-kaluma"},"content":" Hon. Members, I think we will allow the Members who have spoken on the matter to have done so on behalf of the whole House. Call Order 8."},{"id":1493658,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493658/?format=json","text_counter":95,"type":"heading","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"MOTIONS"},{"id":1493659,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493659/?format=json","text_counter":96,"type":"heading","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"CONSIDERATION OF REPORT ON THE KENYA DRUGS AUTHORITY BILL"},{"id":1493660,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493660/?format=json","text_counter":97,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Peter Kaluma","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":1565,"legal_name":"George Peter Opondo Kaluma","slug":"george-peter-opondo-kaluma"},"content":" Order, Hon. Members. I will proceed to put the Question. THAT, this House do agree with the Report of the Committee of the whole House on its consideration of the Kenya Drugs Authority Bill, (National Assembly Bill No.54 of 2022) up to Clause 79, and seek leave to sit again."},{"id":1493661,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1493661/?format=json","text_counter":98,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Question put and agreed to)"}]}