Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 341 to 350 of 1042.

• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: THAT, the Access to Information Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 36 of 2015) be now read a Second Time. In moving this Bill and having waited for it for a long time, I would say that the country has waited for this law for over ten years as far as I know. We had the first draft in 2002 and since then it has been a long journey to get to the place where we are today. I want to appreciate that the 11th Parliament, National Assembly, has occasion today to look at the Access to Information Bill, 2015. view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: In moving this Bill, I want to look at the history of the Bill and the efforts that there have been to get it passed, especially in view of other Motions that have come before this House. I will discuss a little bit the rationale of the Bill. I will discuss the benefits of the Bill and look at comparative perspectives. This is an international as well as a constitutional Bill for our country. I will look at the underpinning principles in the Constitution. I will quickly look at the salient features and then call on the Seconder when I ... view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: In terms of the efforts on this Bill, the Access to Information Bill, I just wish to start with my myself. Access to information is part of the freedom of expression and the freedom of media clauses in the Constitution. After law school, I joined an organisation called International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). I learnt a lot about human rights issues, more so the access to information regime. When I was growing up in an estate here in Nairobi, I knew of many friends and many people of my age who passed away for not knowing that the Government has ... view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: I went to the university courtesy of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB). A friend of my mother had heard about HELB. In Nyeri County, I come from a village in Karima, where not many of us know about HELB. Personally, I had never heard about HELB. I learnt about it when I became a university student. I feel a lot of sadness that in this country we continue to have many university students--- In my own county of Nyeri, many parents, when their children get good grades such as A (plain) A (minus) they run around panicking that they ... view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: On the third part, and this has been the most interesting one for me---. I also grew up in Nyeri County where many of us use kerosene and paraffin lamps. For years, my family used a kerosene lamp. It was not until much later that I discovered solar power. Even for personal fulfilment and choices, we have a country where many homes continue to use kerosene, which is a lot more expensive and has a lot of health issues. I wish somebody could just let them know that solar power is cheaper and better. view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: So, access to information at Government and personal levels in terms of the choices that we make is very important. Many times poor people are poor because of lack of information as opposed to lack of resources. This Access to Information Bill will start to deal with some of these issues. view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: In terms of the history of this law, there was a study done as early as the year 2000. This study indicated that one of the gaps we had in our governance and democracy system was lack of access to information. Information is the oxygen of democracy. You cannot have a regime or a good government system without information. If fact, Judge Daimon has decreed that democracies die behind closed doors. Governments must open themselves to scrutiny. Access to information is the engine of any democracy and ours is no exception. So, in the year 2000 that study showed that ... view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: In the year 2000, Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi then a Member of Parliament brought to this House a Private Member’s Motion to be allowed to introduce to introduce the Bill. That happened. The House upon hearing Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi agreed that indeed an access to information law was important for our country. In 2002, before this Bill could be brought to the Floor of the House, we had an election. So, the Motion lapsed. In 2003, the constitutional review exercise started in our country. The constitutional review exercise was critical in many respects. The old Constitution or the Independence Constitution, in ... view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: Motion passed. The Bill was published, read the First Time and committed to the Energy and Communications Committee. The Bill was looked at by the Committee, then led by Hon. Gideon Moi, in a clause by clause analysis and was prioritised for passage. As you know, 2007 was an election year. We had 23 Bills awaiting passage. This particular one was eighth on the queue. Unfortunately, in 2007, the Bill was not considered. The Government of Kenya has also put in a lot of effort with regard to this law. A Minister for Information, Hon. Raphael Tuju, drafted a Bill ... view
• 19 Nov 2015 in National Assembly: information that we seek to access is for public good – a public resource that should be available to everybody at the same time. Information is value-free. Information is neither good nor bad. It depends on how you interpret it. Interpretation is the basis upon which we use information. In the first instance, the information that we seek to access – the data – is a public good and a public resource. In this country we use the Official Secrets Act, which criminalises disclosure of information by any public servant. Time passage means that this law is no longer effective. ... view