6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
we had the Minister for Justice but now we have the AG. So, this is just on terminology. Now, we will have the AG standing in for the Minister. Section 3 of this Bill is also important in its application in relation to the witnesses. Its application is explicit because it defines a witness as, “a witness giving evidence in criminal proceedings”. It also goes ahead and says: “Also a person who has reported to the police and has written a statement and thinks that his or her life is in danger”.
view
6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
It also goes ahead to say in Section 3(b) that a witness who is required to give evidence in an inquiry before a commission, court, tribunal outside Kenya - where Kenya is signatory to a treaty can also be said to be a protected witness in the circumstances that are prescribed by regulation. This means that when we come to define or create regulations for this law, we will remember that we are required to define, in further terms, a witness. This is because the Bill limits the definition of a witness profoundly. In these regulations, we need to expand ...
view
6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
Very well, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I am happy to know that. I was looking at the Witness Protection Advisory Board. I was trying to explain that for this board, even though the amendment we are seeking literally wants to amend the terminology “to align it to the Constitution”, it has also introduced some new people into this board. One of the introductions is the Registrar of the Judiciary. I was explaining that this is an important The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the ...
view
6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
inclusion because witnesses testify in courts. So, if we do not have the Registrar of the High Court or of the Judiciary here, we are missing an important person in this board. The other member of this board is the Director-General. In the earlier Bill, they call him the Director of National Security Intelligence Service who is also an important person to sit in this board. Now, the terminology is the “Director-General of the National Intelligence Service.” That is purely terminology and of course, the Commissioner of Police. We do not have a Commissioner of Police now. What we have ...
view
6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I will try to quicken. As they prosecute, they also become witnesses. It is an important inclusion. In conclusion, I want to look at Clause 14 which establishes a Witness Protection Complaints Committee. This one comes to replace the Witness Protection Appeals Tribunal. This is purely when you want to make a complaint about this agency. This one is also important because the earlier one had only three people: A chair who qualifies to be a judge of the High Court and two others who, in the opinion of the Cabinet Secretary, had experience. ...
view
6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I want to thank the Members who have made very insightful contributions to this Amendment Bill. Most of the debate has revolved around how we can harness and make the Witness Protection Bill much better. The amendments proposed seem to have covered most of the areas. Clause 22 on giving the Attorney-General powers to delegate has been deleted. The AG does not have blanket powers to delegate. Clause 23 seeks to amend Section 36 of the parent Act by creating a new proviso that provides that the AG may make regulations for or with ...
view
6 Oct 2016 in National Assembly:
rape, you will not even have any other witnesses who are willing to testify. Criminals are set free in most cases because witnesses are reluctant to testify. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is not just a matter of making the law. I agree with Hon. Gikaria that we have laws but we need to enforce them. These beautiful pieces of legislation require concerted efforts for them to be implemented. Concerted efforts can only come from the agencies that make sure that criminal justice is served. The Judiciary must expedite matters before them. The Judiciary has the role of determining matters ...
view
1 Sep 2016 in National Assembly:
I thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to congratulate Members of the 11th Parliament for the work they have done not only today, but in the last few weeks. Today we have passed the laws on elections which set the pace for electoral reforms. Being less than a year in the next elections, we have done a great job. Although in the debate of the Election Law (Amendment) Bill, Members of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs met and wrapped their minds on those amendments; most of them were just meant to clean up the ...
view
1 Sep 2016 in National Assembly:
I thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving this House leadership and for protecting the independence of the legislature.
view
1 Sep 2016 in National Assembly:
Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker.
view