Thursday, 8th October, 2015

Mr. Speaker, Sir, before I move on to lay Papers, allow me, on a point of order, to draw the attention of the Chair that during the tenure of this Second Senate, the first Senator to die while we are in session is former Senator Julius Muthamia, the first Senator for Meru County. He was also an Assistant Minister. I do not know whether the Chair will allow us to respect him by according him a minute of silence before we transact business.

Order, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale. The practice of this House is to discourage ambushes. This may be a very sad ambush. I can only act when I have verified the veracity of your assertions.

An hon. Senator: He is in the obituaries!

You also know that newspapers are not reliable sources of information.

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, Sir. However, just as you have correctly said about ambushes, death really ambushes people. We have been very busy both in the normal media and in social media communicating with Hon. Gitobu Imanyara and all the prominent leaders from Meru County. We have been sending condolences to the family. However, I stand guided.

You are so guided. Proceed on with the matter before us.

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, Sir. However, just as you have correctly said about ambushes, death really ambushes people. We have been very busy both in the normal media and in social media communicating with Hon. Gitobu Imanyara and all the prominent leaders from Meru County. We have been sending condolences to the family. However, I stand guided.

You are so guided. Proceed on with the matter before us.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to lay the following Papers on the Table of the Senate today, Thursday, 8th October, 2015:-

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Operations of Kilifi County Assembly for the year ended 30th June 2014;

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of County Government of Taita Taveta for the sixteen (16) months period ended 30th June 2014.

Report of the Auditor-General on the financial statements of County Government of Bomet for the sixteen (16) months period ended 30th June 2014.

I have laid the one on Taita-Taveta---

Use the nomenclature as listed on the Order Paper.

I have laid the Papers listed under item “c”, “d” and “e”.

Okay. Proceed, Sen. Kagwe.

I have laid the Papers listed under item “c”, “d” and “e”.

Okay. Proceed, Sen. Kagwe.

Report of the Standing Committee on Information and Technology on the County Oversight and Networking Engagements (CONE), in Bungoma, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo- Marakwet, Baringo and Nakuru counties.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate today Thursday, 8th October, 2015.

Address by His Excellency (Dr.) Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the President of the Republic of Tanzania to the Parliament of the Republic of Kenya.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to give notice of the following Motion:-

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order No.25 (3) , the Thanks of the Senate be recorded for the address to Parliament by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania delivered on Tuesday, 6th October, 2015.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to give notice of the following Motion:-

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order No.25 (3) , the Thanks of the Senate be recorded for the address to Parliament by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania delivered on Tuesday, 6th October, 2015.

Next Order.

was very fruitful for both our consumption and issues that concern citizens of this country.

The first issue that we dwelt on was the issue of the chronic and persistent health staff strikes that have affected most counties and paralyzed services to wananchi. The CS agreed with us that, that was a problem while all the other health indicators after devolution have remarkably improved. Despite infrastructure, health centres, and also facilities within the hospitals improving, the issue of health workers has had minimal progress.

Under Statements. Mr. Speaker, Sir. I was just briefing the House but I also have statements to give. There are several of them. I wanted to give as preamble to the fact that I have several pending statements from previous requests by the House and not just one.

Then you will have to wait for the listed ones to be exhausted because we must also allocate time. It is not just a matter of your own presence. You may wish to learn to delegate.

Majority Leader, proceed to Statement “a”.

Under Statements. Mr. Speaker, Sir. I was just briefing the House but I also have statements to give. There are several of them. I wanted to give as preamble to the fact that I have several pending statements from previous requests by the House and not just one.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise under Standing Order No.45 to issue the Statement on the business for next week commencing Tuesday, 13th October, 2015.

On Tuesday, Mr. Speaker, Sir, we shall have a meeting of the Rules and Business Committee (RBC) at 12 noon on 13th October, 2015 to schedule the business of the week. Subject to that meeting, the Senate is expected to debate Bills which are in Second Reading and Committee stage including the following Bills:

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise under Standing Order No.45 to issue the Statement on the business for next week commencing Tuesday, 13th October, 2015.

On Tuesday, Mr. Speaker, Sir, we shall have a meeting of the Rules and Business Committee (RBC) at 12 noon on 13th October, 2015 to schedule the business of the week. Subject to that meeting, the Senate is expected to debate Bills which are in Second Reading and Committee stage including the following Bills:

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I do not know how the order of priority or the listing of this is concerned because yesterday, the next Bill which should have been discussed during Second Reading at conclusion yesterday was the County Attorney Bill.

I expected that when the Leader of Majority was giving a report on what is to be done next week, the County Attorney Bill, having been the next yesterday, would feature somewhere at the top so that we begin debating it on Tuesday. This Bill has been pending for quite some time but as it is now, it is not even mentioned in the Senate Majority Leader’s Statement. Yesterday, when we completed The HIV and AIDS Prevention Control and Management (Amendment) Bill, the Bill was next. If the proceedings had continued for another five minutes, I would have began moving that Bill yesterday. But now for next week ---

Order, Senator. You have put your case and I am sure the Majority Leader and other Members of the RBC have heard you. We will definitely prioritize.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Leader of the Majority made an appeal to Senators to pay greater attention to the business of the House.

Yesterday, the Chairman of the Health Committee, Dr. Kuti, gave notice of a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary (CS) of Health this morning. That was a very important meeting because Members of this House have expressed concerns about the management of the health sector. This was a tremendous opportunity for them to interrogate the CS.

I attended that meeting and it was very disappointing that even Members of the Committee on Health did not attend the meeting. Only a few did. I appeal to fellow Senators that this is important, particularly the health sector which is one of the sectors that has been extensively devolved. It is one of the sectors that we oversight directly.

I want to support the appeal made by the Senate Majority Leader that it is our duty to attend to the business of the Senate. Let us try as much as possible to pay greater

Order, Senator. You have put your case and I am sure the Majority Leader and other Members of the RBC have heard you. We will definitely prioritize.

attention to the business of this House as part of our individual and collective commitment to the duty of this House.

I also report that the issues which were discussed at the Health Kamukunji this morning were very important. In fact, this was one of the best meetings I have ever attended with the CS. The meeting was very effectively presided over by the Chairperson of the Committee on Health, Sen. (Dr.) Kuti. Those who were unable to attend missed a lot.

Thank you.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to seek guidance from the Chair in my capacity as the Chairperson of the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) ---

Order! I will come to you if it is on that matter.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is not that one; it is a different one. The one I saw you over is different from the one I am prosecuting.

Proceed.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as my colleagues, Senators, would have noticed, I have painstakingly been attempting to ensure that all the Reports of CPAIC come before this House timeously so that we can look at them. It has come as a great shock to me that while coming from the bank---

Proceed, Senator.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was saying that I have been under a lot of pressure from colleague Senators; they want to see the reports of the Auditor-General concerning their counties tabled in this House.

I have used a lot of energy and effort to have those reports pushed to come before the House. I was shocked today on my way from the Cooperative Bank, Parliament Road, when I was confronted by a member of the public who told me that he did not wish to disclose his name but he said that he comes from Machakos County. He gave me two copies:-

First, the Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of the County Government of Machakos that was signed by the Auditor-General on 8th July,

Proceed, Senator.

I would like you to give me guidance on how to treat this particular difficult situation of Machakos County. I wish to table the document.

I am not tabling it as a report from the Auditor-General but as evidence for perusal by the Chair for him to ascertain that what I have said is true; that it is from Machakos and signed by the Auditor-General.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am so guided.

As far as I am concerned, these are just pieces of paper you have collected on the streets.

Let us proceed with Statement (b) .

Order, Professor! You are not on Statement (b) . It was sought by Sen. Wetangula and the response should be from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

There is a reason why we publish a document known as the Order Paper.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

There is a reason why we publish a document known as the Order Paper.

Let us proceed with Statement (c) . What is it, Sen. Wetangula? I hoped you would do so but you are reluctant.

The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government. I only deal with internal security.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. If the distinguished Senator for Garissa wants the Cabinet Secretary to come here, it would be a good idea for the Chairperson of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations to pull out all requested Statements relating to security and apprise Members who have requested for them and those who have had a rider on them so that we can all interrogate the Cabinet Secretary on those pending statements.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Did you hear Sen. Haji say that he is only concerned with matters of internal security? Could the Chairperson be guided to know that his mandate also covers foreign affairs and defence?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, that Statement required from me deals with the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government. It does not deal with any other Ministry. So, that answers him very well.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, Sir, ---

Indeed, I agree with the Chairperson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. To answer the Leader of Minority, when I responded, I said that all the Statements that are outstanding with the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government will be answered by him on Tuesday. Hon. Members, please, be aware and avail yourself on that day.

Tuesday at what time?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the morning at 9.00 a.m. or 10 a.m.

Let us agree that the meeting will commence on Tuesday at 10.00 a.m.

Obliged, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Many people use traffic as an excuse for being late in meetings. So, we shall do it at 10.00 a.m.

Order, Senator! They still use traffic to come early. Let us proceed with Statement (c) .

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the morning at 9.00 a.m. or 10 a.m.

Let us agree that the meeting will commence on Tuesday at 10.00 a.m.

Obliged, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Many people use traffic as an excuse for being late in meetings. So, we shall do it at 10.00 a.m.

Order, Senator! They still use traffic to come early. Let us proceed with Statement (c) .

I will give it to her---

Order! We will not act in vain. The Chair should approach me and not the Member. Use the weekend and photocopy. Let the Member and other Members have the document. The Statement is very important; it is about access to

Mr. Speaker, Sir, to deal with the Statement---

finances by youth, women and persons with disabilities. You should present the Statement on Tuesday when everybody has sufficient information.

Most obliged.

The Chairperson or the Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Energy to respond to the Statement (d) on the frequent power blackouts in West Pokot County.

finances by youth, women and persons with disabilities. You should present the Statement on Tuesday when everybody has sufficient information.

The following six projects are being undertaken for future plans to make sure that West Pokot supply is stabilized:-

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the Chairman for the detailed answers to the queries that I raised in this House. I want to remind the Chairman that this question was raised on 28th July, 2015. He is addressing answers from August, 2015.

My greatest concern was that West Pokot County has been experiencing frequent power blackouts until 28th July, 2015. The table he has given us addresses the situation from 4th to 24th August 2015. It shows that West Pokot County has experienced power blackouts during that period. I raised my request before that period. For as long as I can remember, up to 28th July, 2015, there were blackouts in my county. He needs to clarify this.

When the Chairman talks about rotten poles being replaced with concrete poles, could he clarify who is supplying the concrete poles? There is a serious misconception in the villages where Members of the National Assembly are in every village, particularly in Turkana and West Pokot counties, pretending to be the ones supplying those concrete poles. I want the Chair to tell us who is manufacturing the concrete poles and which Member of Parliament (MP) claims to be supplying them.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want the Chairman to clarify because after he talked about future plans, he gave us future plans and replacement of wooden poles from Makutano- Alale up to item number seven. He said that all the above projects will guarantee alternative and reliable sources with inbuilt flexibility for the county. I want a specific date when they will be ready. As at now, the whole sub-county of Pokot North and Kacheliba Constituency does not have power since the world was born and the poles have been in existence. Some have been eaten by termites as the Chairman has confessed.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on 28th July, 2014, Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo had requested for a Statement on the frequent power blackouts in West Pokot County.

In this Statement, he wanted to know the following:-

The following six projects are being undertaken for future plans to make sure that West Pokot supply is stabilized:-

Lastly, we talked about contribution of Turkwel Power Station and the Chairman has confessed that since inception, Turkwel Power Station has served the county. Which county is he talking about? Is he talking about West Pokot? It is only until four years ago that we started getting a little bit of power from the Turkwel, which is in West Pokot County. Since 1986 when the Turkwel came into existence, we have not benefited. So, I want you to rewrite and delete what you have put here saying that we have benefited.

The Chairman has even gone further to mention Kainuk, Turkwel, Marich Pass and Lomut. Lessos in Nandi County has been consuming this power from West Pokot from 1986 to date. So, it is important to correct this document so that we do not lie to Kenyans that West Pokot has benefited from the power which is generated there. It has not. We need a clarification.

Do we have other Members seeking clarifications? The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, the instability of power supply, particularly in the western parts of this country from Busia, Siaya, Kakamega, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot to Turkana is very frequent. Sometimes, we get blackouts for as long as ten hours or a whole day and these have caused a lot of havoc to businesses and home appliances and inconveniences to schools. Since they were connected to the grid, they gave away their generators and rely on grid power for students to study and do their laboratory tests and so on.

In his response, the distinguished Senator from Taita-Taveta said they are replacing wooden poles with concrete poles. Could he tell this House whether a replacement of wooden poles with concrete poles on its own can strengthen and create reliability in power supply? Those are just transmission mechanisms. There cannot be a scientific reason for telling the House that, that will give stability to power. But more importantly, could he tell the House when all schools and institutions of learning will be connected to the national grid in all these areas that I have cited and indeed, the rest of the country? More importantly, what clear measures are being taken to stabilize power supply so that the blackouts that we get so regularly become a thing of the past?

Order, Senators! Since I see a lot of interest, I will allow each of you to seek one clarification. So, prioritise whatever clarifications you have. I will follow the order as I see here.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think the counties that are the source of power, as the Senator for West Pokot said, should not actually be suffering in the manner that the Senator has explained. For a country that is now considering among other things nuclear

Do we have other Members seeking clarifications? The Senate Minority Leader (

option for energy, I think one of the basic things we need to do is deal with power distribution. I want to seek a clarification particularly regarding those counties that are not on the grid, and they are many including my county. The frequency of power blackouts cannot be overstated. It is the routine rather than an exception. What measures is the Kenya Power Company taking to fundamentally and comprehensively modernize its power supply and distribution, particularly in those counties that are on stand-alone generators and so forth? We have a serious crisis.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the instability of power supply, particularly in the western parts of this country from Busia, Siaya, Kakamega, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot to Turkana is very frequent. Sometimes, we get blackouts for as long as ten hours or a whole day and these have caused a lot of havoc to businesses and home appliances and inconveniences to schools. Since they were connected to the grid, they gave away their generators and rely on grid power for students to study and do their laboratory tests and so on. In his response, the distinguished Senator from Taita-Taveta said they are replacing wooden poles with concrete poles. Could he tell this House whether a replacement of wooden poles with concrete poles on its own can strengthen and create reliability in power supply? Those are just transmission mechanisms. There cannot be a scientific reason for telling the House that, that will give stability to power. But more importantly, could he tell the House when all schools and institutions of learning will be connected to the national grid in all these areas that I have cited and indeed, the rest of the country? More importantly, what clear measures are being taken to stabilize power supply so that the blackouts that we get so regularly become a thing of the past?

Order, Senators! Since I see a lot of interest, I will allow each of you to seek one clarification. So, prioritise whatever clarifications you have. I will follow the order as I see here.

Mr. Speaker Sir, a very young boy told me the other day that the only issue he finds in Kenya is that where he comes from when you switch on the lights, you actually expect that they will go on. In Kenya, you pray that the lights will go on. That is a very bad reputation for an emerging economy.

I will follow up on what Sen. Wetangula has just asked. How will we ensure that we have power that we can rely on for all sorts of things? In line with that, as we head towards the El Nino rains, there is a tendency during the rainy seasons for power blackouts to become worse. What preparation is the Kenya Power undertaking to ensure that they remove trees near power lines, so that at the advent of the El Nino rains, we do not have a permanent blackout across the city and indeed, the country?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think the counties that are the source of power, as the Senator for West Pokot said, should not actually be suffering in the manner that the Senator has explained. For a country that is now considering among other things nuclear

option for energy, I think one of the basic things we need to do is deal with power distribution. I want to seek a clarification particularly regarding those counties that are not on the grid, and they are many including my county. The frequency of power blackouts cannot be overstated. It is the routine rather than an exception. What measures is the Kenya Power Company taking to fundamentally and comprehensively modernize its power supply and distribution, particularly in those counties that are on stand-alone generators and so forth? We have a serious crisis.

Order! You have made your case.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is true that power outages are very common in the western region. Trans Nzoia too is very affected and the situation is worse during the harvest season. It causes a lot of losses to farmers in terms drying maize seed and commercial maize. The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and the Kenya Seed Company (KSC) cannot dry the maize. Could the Chairman confirm that in this season of El Nino, there will be no power outages or rationing of power shall be limited in Trans Nzoia for the purpose of food security?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, first, I want to give credit to the Kenya Power Company because wherever you go in the rural areas you find some work going on. I think it is good to give credit where it is due.

Order, Senator! But they are saying that even where there are power lines, there is no power. How do you give credit there?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, even taking the lines there is an effort which we must acknowledge. Having said that, in Kitui County, it is normal that we run without power for a very long time. Every Thursday of the week, we do not have power. I do not know what happens. In fact, I thought that it is only in Kitui that we have blackouts. I am so encouraged to hear that other areas are like Kitui County. When will the Kenya Power Company ensure that Kenya as a whole is connected to the national grid? Secondly, when will they ensure that this power is real, because at the moment, it is not real? There are places without wires and no power. In Kitui, we have blackouts every Thursday and whenever the power goes off at night, we are sure to get it back the following day.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I do not know what has become of the Chairperson of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations. He has just made very devastatingly incorrect statements here. I am sure even the Leader of the Minority will not support it. I do not think it is right for a Senator – I do not even think that it is honourable in my view – to say that the Government is lying. That statement is exaggerated. May be there could be factors which have not been presented appropriately. However, to say that the Government is lying is an attack on Government. I do not think it should go unchallenged.

What is it, Sen. Haji, former Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I disagree with what my senior, Sen. Musila, has said. The wires that he is talking about are meant to benefit the contractor and the officer who is giving it. I am saying this because deals from--- In the former Hulugho District, only five kilometres from the Kenya-Somali border, we have the military, police, Deputy County Commissioner and all Government offices. A huge power house was

constructed 10 years ago, posts were put but up to today, there is no power. So, all these wires that you are seeing are for “eating”.

It is very unfortunate that Government should lie. I agree with Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo when he says that the Government should not lie. The Government is lying because it is being said everywhere that power has been connected to 1000 places but it is all lies. We want our light now.

Order, Senators! I heard the Members very clearly. The Senate Majority Leader qualified his statement by saying, “in his view”. That view has been disapproved by the House. It is not anywhere near the majoritarian view, neither is it minority. It is the minority of the minority. I think the mood of the House and the country is such that these are people’s representatives and so they come here and describe the situation that obtains on the ground. The minimum that the Senate Majority Leader would do for us is to promise to do something about it, particularly when these issues are

What is it, Sen. Haji, former Minister?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is no power in this place ---

Order, Sen. Haji! Just assume your seat. Relax and now enjoy the microphone.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we cannot be gagged for saying the truth. It is daytime and the Government is lying in broad daylight by giving that statement. I want an explanation as to why 10 years down the road, there is no electricity in Hulugho, and yet a huge power house was constructed and poles laid. The Senate Minority Leader (

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The word “lie” has been used several times when Sen. Haji was contributing and now the Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Energy. Is it now accepted to be parliamentary?

It is not. Use the word “mislead”.

On a point of order. Mr. Speaker, Sir. You just saw how clear we are about this matter because it is very serious. The issue of lying or not lying seems to be prevailing in the argument. Would I be in order to say that instead of saying the Government is lying, we say the Government is failing to complete the projects?

You are completely out of order. Those are two different things. Proceed, Chairman.

Sen. Haji senior, who happens to be with Sen. Musila, has conceded that he has seen the wires, just like Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo who was Minister in the former Ministry of Roads and Public Works has seen the wooden poles. The Senate Minority Leader has confirmed that even if you change the wooden poles to concrete ones and they are conveying nothing, it is of no consequence. The Government policy is well stated that all primary schools should be connected with electricity, whether on grid or off grid.

The Senate Majority Leader and I represent counties that need that electricity like yesterday. So, this is a very important issue. Let the Vice Chairperson give us a firm undertaking. Secondly, remember that as we increase electricity production, we will bring down the cost of electricity which makes our country more competitive and attracts investments. I think all of us agree that we need it like yesterday.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. In terms of the future power supply stability in West Pokot County, I have given elaborate programmes that will stabilize the power supply. I would request the distinguished Senator that if in future the power supply is not stabilized, then I am more than willing to talk to the Kenya Power and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to make sure that power supply, not only to West Pokot but the entire country is stabilized in terms of supply.

The Senate Minority Leader had stated that power supply in Western Kenya is unstable. I would want to go to the Ministry to be able to give a more detailed answer to this because it is a new question. Therefore, I need some time to do that. In terms of reliability of power especially when he said the wooden poles and the concrete ones will not improve supply of power, what happens with the wooden poles is that when termites eat the poles, they fall and interfere with the power supply. In terms of the schools being supplied with power, the Government’s undertaking was that by the end of this financial year, all schools will be connected and the ones off the grid will be supplied with solar panels to make sure all learning institutions are supplied with power.

From my own county and the ones I have visited, about 80 per cent to 90 per cent of schools that are on the grid have been connected. It is only the ones who are off the grid that the Government is yet to do that.

Sen. Kagwe had asked that the Government had an ambitious plan of producing 5,000 megawatts so that it can improve the reliability of power supply. I think the programme is on course. As they stated, they have been able to put 370 megawatts to the national grid which has improved the reliability of power supply. There are ongoing plans to ensure Olkaria I and II and other initiatives to improve, especially the Lamu Coal Plant which has delayed due to some other problems, but the Government is on plan and in 40 months, they were to give us 5,000 megawatts. You have seen some improvement and we need them to do more but we are seeing some gradual improvement when it comes to reliability.

Order! Sen. Kagwe talked about the preparedness for the El Nino rains which I think is extremely crucial.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is very important. Apart from them undertaking planned outages to make sure that they have planned well in advance in terms of the forthcoming El Nino rains, it is important is that also the users should help Kenya Power reporting any incidents. For example, if I have a tree which is almost falling on a line, I should be report to Kenya Power so that they can cut it because it is during the rains that many trees fall on the lines and, therefore, interrupt power supply.

One of the biggest problems in Kenya is that most of our power supply redistribution is overhead lines. They are now undertaking underground power supply which will greatly improve the liability and supply. They have plans to start with the major towns. When that happens, I will be able to give that information to the House.

Sen. Ndiema’s question is almost the same on the issue of the rainy season, the preparedness of the power and lighting in terms of giving stability to power supply. This is the same question as what Sen. Kagwe had asked. I will report back to them when they give me more information on the preparedness on the forthcoming El Nino rains. I will make that information available to the Members.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. All I said is that, if I give any answer, I will be misleading the House. So, I said I will find out who the suppliers are.

In terms of Sen. Musila saying that the lines have criss-crossed his county but they are not connected, I agree and one of the initiatives that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and Kenya Power have done is to talk to the Members of Parliament who have Constituencies Development Funds (CDF), because the lines have crossed but the transformers are not adequate. Therefore, they have asked the Members of Parliament who have the CDF kitty to ensure they fund so that more transformers are supplied so that we can connect to more homes. As the schools are being connected, we also encourage homesteads around the schools to also connect to the power grid.

Sen. Billow said that some of these counties are not in the national grid. What happens to them is that the power is generated through generators, most of them in the northern part of the country. I do not have an answer right now on what Kenya Power has done to make sure that there is continued power supply especially during this forthcoming El Nino rains, but if I get more details, I will give it to the House.

Thank you.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to seek your guidance. I had approached you, if you could use your discretion to allow me a few minutes to make a very short Statement under Standing Order No. 45 (2) (a) , on an issue of general topical concern namely; the demise of the Hon. Sen. Julius Muthamia, former Senator for Meru county.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. In terms of the future power supply stability in West Pokot County, I have given elaborate programmes that will stabilize the power supply. I would request the distinguished Senator that if in future the power supply is not stabilized, then I am more than willing to talk to the Kenya Power and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to make sure that power supply, not only to West Pokot but the entire country is stabilized in terms of supply.

The Senate Minority Leader had stated that power supply in Western Kenya is unstable. I would want to go to the Ministry to be able to give a more detailed answer to this because it is a new question. Therefore, I need some time to do that. In terms of reliability of power especially when he said the wooden poles and the concrete ones will not improve supply of power, what happens with the wooden poles is that when termites eat the poles, they fall and interfere with the power supply. In terms of the schools being supplied with power, the Government’s undertaking was that by the end of this financial year, all schools will be connected and the ones off the grid will be supplied with solar panels to make sure all learning institutions are supplied with power.

From my own county and the ones I have visited, about 80 per cent to 90 per cent of schools that are on the grid have been connected. It is only the ones who are off the grid that the Government is yet to do that.

Sen. Kagwe had asked that the Government had an ambitious plan of producing 5,000 megawatts so that it can improve the reliability of power supply. I think the programme is on course. As they stated, they have been able to put 370 megawatts to the national grid which has improved the reliability of power supply. There are ongoing plans to ensure Olkaria I and II and other initiatives to improve, especially the Lamu Coal Plant which has delayed due to some other problems, but the Government is on plan and in 40 months, they were to give us 5,000 megawatts. You have seen some improvement and we need them to do more but we are seeing some gradual improvement when it comes to reliability.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the night of Tuesday, 6th October, 2015, the people of Meru County, the larger Ameru Community and the nation of Kenya lost one of the most illustrious sons of this country in the early years of Independence. Sen. Julius Muthamia passed away quietly in his sleep on Tuesday night. The news has come at a time when this Senate and the country is redefining itself and trying to appreciate the role of the Senate in a devolved system of government.

Sen. Julius Muthamia was known to me personally. He remained very active in public life, even after the first Senate was dissolved. He was the Chairman of Meru Central Njuri Ncheke leadership, but he was also part of the Meru leaders’ forum, an informal group of leaders that used to support the politics and the socio-economic development issues not only in Meru County but also the larger Ameru Community.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, Sen. Muthamia was a unifier, and even at the time of his demise, he was busy putting together different political camps that were emerging within Meru County. He was very moderate and a Godly man. In fact, during the recess, he had

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is very important. Apart from them undertaking planned outages to make sure that they have planned well in advance in terms of the forthcoming El Nino rains, it is important is that also the users should help Kenya Power reporting any incidents. For example, if I have a tree which is almost falling on a line, I should be report to Kenya Power so that they can cut it because it is during the rains that many trees fall on the lines and, therefore, interrupt power supply.

One of the biggest problems in Kenya is that most of our power supply redistribution is overhead lines. They are now undertaking underground power supply which will greatly improve the liability and supply. They have plans to start with the major towns. When that happens, I will be able to give that information to the House.

Sen. Ndiema’s question is almost the same on the issue of the rainy season, the preparedness of the power and lighting in terms of giving stability to power supply. This is the same question as what Sen. Kagwe had asked. I will report back to them when they give me more information on the preparedness on the forthcoming El Nino rains. I will make that information available to the Members.

In terms of Sen. Musila saying that the lines have criss-crossed his county but they are not connected, I agree and one of the initiatives that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and Kenya Power have done is to talk to the Members of Parliament who have Constituencies Development Funds (CDF), because the lines have crossed but the transformers are not adequate. Therefore, they have asked the Members of Parliament who have the CDF kitty to ensure they fund so that more transformers are supplied so that we can connect to more homes. As the schools are being connected, we also encourage homesteads around the schools to also connect to the power grid.

Sen. Billow said that some of these counties are not in the national grid. What happens to them is that the power is generated through generators, most of them in the northern part of the country. I do not have an answer right now on what Kenya Power has done to make sure that there is continued power supply especially during this forthcoming El Nino rains, but if I get more details, I will give it to the House.

Thank you.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to seek your guidance. I had approached you, if you could use your discretion to allow me a few minutes to make a very short Statement under Standing Order No. 45 (2) (a) , on an issue of general topical concern namely; the demise of the Hon. Sen. Julius Muthamia, former Senator for Meru county.

Proceed.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the night of Tuesday, 6th October, 2015, the people of Meru County, the larger Ameru Community and the nation of Kenya lost one of the most illustrious sons of this country in the early years of Independence. Sen. Julius Muthamia passed away quietly in his sleep on Tuesday night. The news has come at a time when this Senate and the country is redefining itself and trying to appreciate the role of the Senate in a devolved system of government.

Sen. Julius Muthamia was known to me personally. He remained very active in public life, even after the first Senate was dissolved. He was the Chairman of Meru Central Njuri Ncheke leadership, but he was also part of the Meru leaders’ forum, an informal group of leaders that used to support the politics and the socio-economic development issues not only in Meru County but also the larger Ameru Community.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, Sen. Muthamia was a unifier, and even at the time of his demise, he was busy putting together different political camps that were emerging within Meru County. He was very moderate and a Godly man. In fact, during the recess, he had

invited me as a chief guest in his church, Giaki Methodist Church and I was able to make some contribution and also some pledges on behalf of the President and the Deputy President. I hope even now in death, I will be able to follow up on those pledges in honour of the late Julius Muthamia, former Senator for Meru.

I cannot see my senior brother here, Sen. Murungi, but I am sure the remarks I have made about the importance and esteem in which we held Sen. Muthamia, are those which I can make on my behalf and all the leaders who come from that corner of the country. In fact, I am sure Sen. Murungi bears me witness because he was one of the first people to send his condolences. There have been a lot of condolences from across the country meaning that Sen. Muthamia was a leader who had friends from all over the country even having served as an Assistant Minister in the first administration in this country.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I end my statement there. Thank you very much for your indulgence.

Order, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale! I will allow you to speak afterwards, let me first make one communication.

Where is the Chairperson of the Committee on Roads and Transportation? What is it, Sen. Wetangula? The Senate Minority Leader (

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I enjoin the distinguished Senator for Kakamega and ride on that request. In answering, could the Chairperson tell us whether it is, in fact, true that the contractor who was contracted to construct this critical road that is part of the Isebania-Migori-Kisii- Kisumu-Kakamega-Kitale-Pokot-Lodwar-South Sudan Highway has abandoned the

road? There is some dilapidated equipment lying by the road side. Some gapping gullies dug across the road are still there.

Could he also tell us why most roads in the western part of Kenya which were started in the last regime of President Kibaki have stalled? For example, the Kamukuywa- Mt. Elgon-Chwele Road has stalled. Stendi Kisa-Butere Road has virtually stalled. Sigalagala Road has stalled. All the other roads that have been extravagantly promised under something called annuity programme have never taken off.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the personal statement that the Senator for Kakamega has given with regards to the action of the Senegalese President is appropriate. We, as Africa, need to share the good policies and celebrate when some of the countries in this continent take actions that are desirous of good governance. Good governance has been the biggest challenge in Africa. When we see leaders in many parts of this continent taking action in a manner with which the Senegalese President has done, I find that

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise under Standing Order No.45---

remarkable. I, therefore, thank Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, in his wisdom, for sharing that information with the rest of us here.

Hon. Senators, I have a Message from the Kiambu County Assembly on the County Library Services Bill (Senate Bill No.6 of 2015) .

I wish to report to the Senate that pursuant to Standing Order No.42 (1) , (3) and

Did the Speaker give you oral authority?

That cannot be possible because Standing Order No.45 (3) says that:-

“A Senator who wishes to seek leave to raise a matter under paragraph (2)

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the personal statement that the Senator for Kakamega has given with regards to the action of the Senegalese President is appropriate. We, as Africa, need to share the good policies and celebrate when some of the countries in this continent take actions that are desirous of good governance. Good governance has been the biggest challenge in Africa. When we see leaders in many parts of this continent taking action in a manner with which the Senegalese President has done, I find that

remarkable. I, therefore, thank Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, in his wisdom, for sharing that information with the rest of us here.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, you gave notice of that statement during a transition process; the Speaker was going out and I was taking over. Under what Standing Order did you stand?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stood under Standing Orders No.45 (2) (a) which says that:-

“During Statement Hour -

Did the Speaker give you oral authority?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. He did not ask for a written notice.

That cannot be possible because Standing Order No.45 (3) says that:-

“A Senator who wishes to seek leave to raise a matter under paragraph (2)

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I cannot contradict the Speaker, Hon. Ethuro.

Order, Senator! This House is guided by rules which are the Standing Orders. Therefore, it does not matter. I am not blaming or doubting you. However, if you wish to proceed under Standing Order No.45 (2) (a) , that must comply with 45 (3) which talks about a written request.

As I said, you were on your feet when the Chair was transiting.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you consult the HANSARD, you will find that what precedes the Statement that has been answered by the Chairperson of the Committee on Land and Natural Resources where the Speaker says: “On that matter which you had seen me on, I will give you an opportunity later.”

I heard that, I was here.

That is my case, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, it may be a fait accompli situation because you have already given your personal statement. Therefore, what I say will not reverse the fact that you have already said whatever you wanted. My point is that it is not procedural. The Speaker cannot have allowed you without having a written request.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a written document here which I gave him before 1.00 p.m. The only thing I did not do is give him to approve.

Then that is a different situation. When I asked you, you said that you had talked to him orally. The HANSARD will bear me out.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I just did not want to give the impression that the Speaker read a statement from me and then signed and okayed because I will be misrepresenting facts. I, therefore, chose to state matters the exact same way they transpired.

The main reason I asked you that is because when you were giving the statement, you mentioned Presidents of two friendly countries. If you check Standing Order No.90, you should not have mentioned names of those two Presidents.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand guided. In accordance with that Standing Order, I wish to recall the names of those two Presidents of friendly countries and rephrase as follows. “I hope the Senators and members of the CoG who when the time come for them to become presidents of this country, they will not learn from the behaviour of some leaders of certain African countries.”

Hon. Senator, could you withdraw the statement that you made earlier.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I withdraw the mention of those two Presidents who on the HANSARD read President Nkurunziza and President Museveni and replace them with the words that I have just said. The Senate Minority Leader (

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Before Sen. Kagwe speaks, I would like the Chair to guide me a little bit. According to how I understand the Standing Orders, the Chair’s attention to the breach of rules by Sen. Wetangula should have been drawn by a Senator. When the Chair – without being invited to note that a wrong has been committed – goes ahead and does what he might attempt to do, it might amount to him participating in debate. You are supposed to control debate.

What are you referring to exactly?

I am referring to when you found that Sen. Wetangula was out of order to veer into---

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, are you suggesting that when, for instance, you breach Standing Order No.90, I should just sit here and watch and not talk about it? Are you suggesting that the Speaker does not listen to debates and what goes on? Otherwise, how do I guard Standing Orders if I do not listen?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am not debating anything, but joining---

Proceed,

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Indeed, the distinguished professor read the wrong Standing Order.

Order! Sen. Wetangula! We have to end this debate because you are taking advantage and bringing extraneous issues which have nothing to do with the debate. The Koinange Estate should not come in because that is an active matter in court. On what basis can you possible bring in the Koinange Estate into the House? How will you allow the family members to defend themselves if those issues are there? I will not allow that. The Senate Minority Leader (

Order! I am talking now. The point I am making – it is good to remember that I said this – is that the reason we have due process is to ensure that everybody finds that justice has been done to them; the rich and the poor, those sitting in the Senate and those outside as Kenyan citizens going about their businesses.

We talk about corruption. It is a very important issue that we are discussing and most of us abhor it. However, before you claim that somebody is corrupt or they have done something corruptly, it is important that they too are heard. There is a family dispute going on. It has been going on for many years and that is in common knowledge. It is neither for me nor you to decide whether the property was acquired corruptly or not because, then, there will be no due process. When you will be caught in the same situation, you will want the protection of this Chair, so that you are not discussed by people who think that your notoriety is common knowledge. That is why we have due process. I will guard that as jealously as I can because that is the right of every citizen.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Not on the same issue. Sen. Kagwe, proceed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, obscenities in primitive accumulation of wealth through corruption must be fought from every direction and front. We should not shy away from talking about it when it happens. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I join in lauding the Senegalese President.

Finally, Sen. Kagwe.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Before Sen. Kagwe speaks, I would like the Chair to guide me a little bit. According to how I understand the Standing Orders, the Chair’s attention to the breach of rules by Sen. Wetangula should have been drawn by a Senator. When the Chair – without being invited to note that a wrong has been committed – goes ahead and does what he might attempt to do, it might amount to him participating in debate. You are supposed to control debate.

What are you referring to exactly?

I am referring to when you found that Sen. Wetangula was out of order to veer into---

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, are you suggesting that when, for instance, you breach Standing Order No.90, I should just sit here and watch and not talk about it? Are you suggesting that the Speaker does not listen to debates and what goes on? Otherwise, how do I guard Standing Orders if I do not listen?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, because we are both here, I would like to be guided---

Order! Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale. What exactly do you mean when you say that I am participating in the debate? I am sitting here overseeing the debate going on in the House. The purpose of doing that inter alia is to

ensure that the Standing Orders are not breached. Therefore, you do not expect me to sit here and watch Members breach Standing Orders until somebody points it out to me. What kind of a House will I be presiding over if I allowed that? What would be the purpose of my sitting here? So, you are out of order!Sen. Wetangula started talking about the estate of a Kenyan citizen who is now deceased. The case is still in court. Therefore, the matter is still being discussed. The family members have no chance of coming here to defend themselves or state whether or not the wealth was acquired corruptly, or otherwise. Why would you drag the family name regarding matters that are in court and suggest that I should not say that it is not right? You are wrong on that because I am not participating in the debate, nor am I entering the fray. I am just upholding the rules of debate as contained in our Standing Orders.

Sen. Orengo, the trouble is that you have opened up a fresh debate which will take another long period.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Chair and I, are very anxious about this Report for many reasons, but we have been preparing to present it. However, I agree with Sen. Orengo who has raised the concerns although this Motion has been on the Order Paper since yesterday. I have yet another concern that Sen. Wako raised which I think has been forgotten. He proposed that this Report be discussed with the Senators before we present it so that we can take them through it and build a consensus.

I would hate for us to lose this moment because the ignition is getting more politically charged. This is something we are going to lose in the process of taking long to present the Report to this House. Therefore, other than the concerns raised by Sen. Orengo, I have another concern the Members, even if we move this Motion, have very little knowledge of what it is we are trying to build consensus on their behalf.

So, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., you are also supporting the position taken by Sen. Wako?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. The Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights was of the view that we, as the Members of the Committee, need to take the Senate through this process so that we can speak by one voice when we come on live television. That is the position we agreed.

Order! I am talking now. The point I am making – it is good to remember that I said this – is that the reason we have due process is to ensure that everybody finds that justice has been done to them; the rich and the poor, those sitting in the Senate and those outside as Kenyan citizens going about their businesses.

We talk about corruption. It is a very important issue that we are discussing and most of us abhor it. However, before you claim that somebody is corrupt or they have done something corruptly, it is important that they too are heard. There is a family dispute going on. It has been going on for many years and that is in common knowledge. It is neither for me nor you to decide whether the property was acquired corruptly or not because, then, there will be no due process. When you will be caught in the same situation, you will want the protection of this Chair, so that you are not discussed by people who think that your notoriety is common knowledge. That is why we have due process. I will guard that as jealously as I can because that is the right of every citizen.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Not on the same issue. Sen. Kagwe, proceed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I laud the new President and caution him. As we praise the action he took, we hope and pray that, at the end of the five years, we will be praising him exactly the same way we are doing now. It is important for the word

to go forth from this House that we are very impressed with what he did. Hopefully, we will continue being impressed during his term, lest after five years Saul turns into Paul.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it has been the practice within the African Continent of starting with a lot of excitement. However, you will find that three or four years down the line, the cronies and would be good poets take advantage of the President. They become more corrupt compared to the ones in the previous regimes. Therefore, we should keep him in our prayers so that he does not go the same direction as his colleagues.

That is the end of that matter. Next Order.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I wanted to come and see you, but you were kept very busy. So, I did not give you a notice of the matter I wanted to raise.

Standing Order 39 (2) says: “Business shall be disposed of in the sequence in which it appears in the Order Paper or in such other sequence as the Speaker may, for the convenience of the Senate, direct.” On the basis of that Standing Order, I request the Chair that Order No.11 be deferred. If you see the proceedings of the House Business Committee (RBC) , I had requested the RBC to have this Motion discussed without there being too much business in the House to the extent that the Mover of the Motion will now move this important Motion to an empty House.

This Motion is about the Constitution. We are seeking the approval of the Senate that we proceed with the amendment of the Kenyan Constitution as promulgated in 2010.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I seek your indulgence to reorder the order of business so that the Chair of the Committee, Sen. Murkomen, may be able to move the Motion, not only when we have a full House or more Members, but also at prime time, because the country should know why we desire to amend the Constitution. I know the amount of work that has been done by the Committee and the secretariat of Parliament on this matter. I beseech you that this matter be deferred. I urge through the Chair that this business be put as a single item, probably, on Tuesday or Wednesday. There are weighty matters to be discussed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I had been informed that last Tuesday that the Senate had blocked Thursday afternoon for two reasons. One, that all Members can have the opportunity to follow the proceedings of the Committee. Secondly, the members of public can follow through live coverage. Unfortunately, today because of the business, we have spent the time on other businesses. I hope that the Members will be given sufficient notice to understand that this is a very important item to the House so that they prepare, not only to come make their contributions, but will also be present.

I do not want to imagine that the fire that we had last time when we formed this Committee is going down. I hope the Senators are still vibrant, focused and committed to ensuring that we take on this process of strengthening devolution, the Senate and Parliament for that matter. I pray that if you will schedule another day, those considerations will be put in place. Otherwise, one will interpret that the faith has gone down. Thank you.

Sen. Orengo, the trouble is that you have opened up a fresh debate which will take another long period.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Chair and I, are very anxious about this Report for many reasons, but we have been preparing to present it. However, I agree with Sen. Orengo who has raised the concerns although this Motion has been on the Order Paper since yesterday. I have yet another concern that Sen. Wako raised which I think has been forgotten. He proposed that this Report be discussed with the Senators before we present it so that we can take them through it and build a consensus.

I would hate for us to lose this moment because the ignition is getting more politically charged. This is something we are going to lose in the process of taking long to present the Report to this House. Therefore, other than the concerns raised by Sen. Orengo, I have another concern the Members, even if we move this Motion, have very little knowledge of what it is we are trying to build consensus on their behalf.

So, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., you are also supporting the position taken by Sen. Wako?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. The Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights was of the view that we, as the Members of the Committee, need to take the Senate through this process so that we can speak by one voice when we come on live television. That is the position we agreed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have been through this road before and I do not think we have learnt much. You were on the Chair last time when this happened. We are just pleading with you that you restore the dignity of the Senate of treating our guests accordingly. This is because we have people who you can see and who you have not recognised. We do not know who they are, but there are people who are supposed to be here. We do not want them to take a message back to their counties that the Chair failed to recognise them when they were here.

I plead with you---

Order. If you had approached the Deputy Speaker, I would have told you why they are not in the Speaker’s Gallery and you could have understood why. So, I do not think you need to take issue on this matter. It has nothing to do with what transpired last week. As I have told you, these are interns who are already working in the Senate.

You are raising pertinent issues and we should discuss them openly and dispassionately. Unless you are saying that nobody in the Public Gallery should be recognised. That would be wrong because when pupils and students come they go to the Public Gallery, partly because they cannot fit in the Speaker’s Gallery. Sometimes it is more than one school which visits us. So, they cannot fit there. They come to learn, we recognise, appreciate and encourage them to learn and go back to their schools and do well. That is the outstanding tradition of this Senate. However, as I said last week, it is not obligatory to recognise people in the Public Gallery because many times, we do not even know that they are there.

Therefore, if you go to the Public Gallery and want to be recognised, we have to know that you are there because you cannot see the Public Gallery from where I am sitting.

However, to be on the Speaker’s Gallery, you have also to be dressed formally in the same dress code that also pertains to the Chamber. If you are not dressed formally, you cannot be allowed to go there. That is why I said if you had approached the Deputy Speaker, you would have learnt what is going on without anticipating the situation. Again, it must be a learning curve for the staffers from Turkana County who are sitting in the Public Gallery because they know they cannot sit in the Speaker’s Gallery for the reasons that have been explained to them. That is the position.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. You have addressed the issue. However, my point of order was whether the hon. Members were in order to raise issues about the same when in your communication you clearly indicated it is for reasons known to them. This debate was unnecessary.

Maybe they were not listening and we must give everybody a chance to speak. You do not want to appear like you are gagging them. Before you came in, we had a debate about gagging Members from saying what they want to say. I do not want to be accused of gagging anybody from doing what they are supposed to do but I have heard you.

Proceed, Sen. Adan.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I apologise if I went out of the rail. However, I agree with those who think that we should postpone the Motion. It is very important for all of us to agree on the next stage. Therefore, I support the idea of waiting a little while so that further consultations can be done.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

-

Article 51 of the Constitution of Kenya protects the rights of detained persons, persons held in custody and other imprisoned persons under the law, and requires Parliament to enact legislation to provide for the humane treatment of such persons with due regard to the relevant international human rights instruments; OBSERVING that international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,---

Order, Sen. Adan. Are you going to move the Motion?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me move the Motion with the following points.

First let me say that this Motion is quite overdue in the sense that we have had---

Sen. Adan, you have to move the Motion. You have to start that, you want to move the following Motion which is now this one, and then you have to read it.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am not getting you because I was trying to go through the Motion and you stopped me.

I did not stop you. You were not reading the Motion; you were giving some preliminary information and other things.

Order. If you had approached the Deputy Speaker, I would have told you why they are not in the Speaker’s Gallery and you could have understood why. So, I do not think you need to take issue on this matter. It has nothing to do with what transpired last week. As I have told you, these are interns who are already working in the Senate.

to a high rate of recidivism and the inability of former inmates to reintegrate into society; APPRECIATING the urgent need to align the Prisons Act and Borstal Institutions Act with the Constitution of Kenya and the international instruments on the rights of detained persons; NOW THEREFORE, the Senate resolves to establish a Select Committee to undertake an inquiry into the policy and legislation pertaining to the treatment of detained persons as well as the state of correctional institutions in Kenya, including prisons and Borstal institutions, and to submit a Report to the Senate within three months, with recommendations on such policy and legislative interventions as may be necessary to align the existing legislation on correctional services with the Constitution of Kenya and in compliance with international standards on the rights of detained persons and such other recommendations as may be necessary; AND FURTHER, that the Members of the Select Committee are-

You are raising pertinent issues and we should discuss them openly and dispassionately. Unless you are saying that nobody in the Public Gallery should be recognised. That would be wrong because when pupils and students come they go to the Public Gallery, partly because they cannot fit in the Speaker’s Gallery. Sometimes it is more than one school which visits us. So, they cannot fit there. They come to learn, we recognise, appreciate and encourage them to learn and go back to their schools and do well. That is the outstanding tradition of this Senate. However, as I said last week, it is not obligatory to recognise people in the Public Gallery because many times, we do not even know that they are there.

Therefore, if you go to the Public Gallery and want to be recognised, we have to know that you are there because you cannot see the Public Gallery from where I am sitting.

However, to be on the Speaker’s Gallery, you have also to be dressed formally in the same dress code that also pertains to the Chamber. If you are not dressed formally, you cannot be allowed to go there. That is why I said if you had approached the Deputy Speaker, you would have learnt what is going on without anticipating the situation. Again, it must be a learning curve for the staffers from Turkana County who are sitting in the Public Gallery because they know they cannot sit in the Speaker’s Gallery for the reasons that have been explained to them. That is the position.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. You have addressed the issue. However, my point of order was whether the hon. Members were in order to raise issues about the same when in your communication you clearly indicated it is for reasons known to them. This debate was unnecessary.

Maybe they were not listening and we must give everybody a chance to speak. You do not want to appear like you are gagging them. Before you came in, we had a debate about gagging Members from saying what they want to say. I do not want to be accused of gagging anybody from doing what they are supposed to do but I have heard you.

Proceed, Sen. Adan.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank Sen. Dullo for this great Motion. This demonstrates her commitment to human rights. For the purpose of this House, Sen. Dullo and I served in the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) , where she was in charge of penal reforms. This is an extremely important Motion for this Senate, so that we can start to interrogate the aspirations of our Constitution, particularly, when it comes to Chapter Four, which is the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights ensures that all persons are accorded a certain standard of treatment. Those we jail and those who are free must ascribe to a certain standard of treatment. I remember the words of Mirugi Kariuki, the late Assistant Minister for Internal Security and Provincial Administration and who also served as the Nakuru Town Member of Parliament. He once said that a society is best judged not by how it treats the highest and mightiest of its citizens but how it treats its most undesirable citizens. Therefore, how we treat those in our correctional facilities tells the type of society that we are in.

This is a country that likes to condemn those people just on mere allegations. That is why I said the media, Parliament and every institution has what I call social responsibility to ensure that rights and issues pertaining to the dignity of humans and certain aspersions that are cast on them are treated with caution to avoid what I call irreparable damage of image.

Therefore, if you read or do issues around penal reforms, you will find that, that confinement itself is what is denied of you; that freedom of all other freedo

“We restrict you so that we can correct you.” Other countries have first moved from calling prisons “prisons” to “correctional facilities.” Maybe that is one of the progressive steps that this Committee can discuss; how we want to brand our penal system. Do we want to call them correctional facilities or prisons? Is there need to continue having the borstal institutions that we have or are there most appropriate ways to treat our children when they err? These are some of the most fundamental issues that we must interrogate because this new Constitution gives us that opportunity to interrogate the values that we have had over the years.

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Move the Motion then.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me move the Motion with the following points.

First let me say that this Motion is quite overdue in the sense that we have had---

Sen. Adan, you have to move the Motion. You have to start that, you want to move the following Motion which is now this one, and then you have to read it.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am not getting you because I was trying to go through the Motion and you stopped me.

I did not stop you. You were not reading the Motion; you were giving some preliminary information and other things.

Sorry, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I beg to move the following Motion:- WHEREAS Article 51 of the Constitution of Kenya protects the rights of detained persons, persons held in custody and other imprisoned persons under the law, and requires Parliament to enact legislation to provide for the humane treatment of such persons with due regard to the relevant international human rights instruments; OBSERVING that international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the United Nations Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners set standards on the treatment of persons, including the right to be treated with respect; protection from discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status; AWARE of the deplorable state of correctional services throughout the country including poor living conditions in the institutions of both officers and prisoners, the poor state of sanitation and nutrition, overcrowding, lack of proper medical attention, frequent outbreak of communicable diseases and frequent reports of deaths of inmates leading

to a high rate of recidivism and the inability of former inmates to reintegrate into society; APPRECIATING the urgent need to align the Prisons Act and Borstal Institutions Act with the Constitution of Kenya and the international instruments on the rights of detained persons; NOW THEREFORE, the Senate resolves to establish a Select Committee to undertake an inquiry into the policy and legislation pertaining to the treatment of detained persons as well as the state of correctional institutions in Kenya, including prisons and Borstal institutions, and to submit a Report to the Senate within three months, with recommendations on such policy and legislative interventions as may be necessary to align the existing legislation on correctional services with the Constitution of Kenya and in compliance with international standards on the rights of detained persons and such other recommendations as may be necessary; AND FURTHER, that the Members of the Select Committee are-

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I told you, because these places have remained places of punishment rather than correction, we then have a situation whereby a prisoner who then comes out has not learnt anything because there was no time to train him on how to change, and this is why even some of the prisoners end up being caught up in the problem of rewraps because nobody has taught them that having been punished for this crime, they can be punished for a similar crime again. Some of them end up thinking that because they served three years, even if they make a mistake, they have already been punished, and they think they are free.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, because of this and many other reasons which we shall go into later, there is, therefore, urgent need for us to align the Prison’s Act and the Borstal Institution’s Act to the rich positions within Chapter Four of the Constitution of Kenya in its present form.

This gives me an opportunity because I have one of Kenya’s biggest prisons in Shikusa. We, the people of Kakamega, are saying we cannot be the ones who are expected to host one of the highest numberof prisoners in Kenya. Kakamega as a county was not meant to host people who are unable to live with their societies from across the Republic.

Therefore, we say each county government must build its own prison so that prisons across the country are shared. Where do we lose? Shikusa Prison has got tracts of thousands of acres of land where we have vast maize plantations. The produce of these plantations is partly what is used to feed the prisoners across the Republic. What is worse is that prison officers will die to serve as officers in Shikusa, the reason being that they allocate themselves hundreds of acres of land within the Shikusa plantations, where they plant free maize seeds, where labour is free from prisoners including the harvesting. The only thing that the prison waders do is to sell. Some of the richest prison officers in Kenya or may be in East Africa are the ones serving in Shikusa.

We are saying that, let every county have its prison, we want to reduce the number of prisoners who live in Kakamega. We want to put to good use the tracts of thousands of acres of land in Shikusa. For example, we have decided as leadership of the county to move the Kakamega Approved Primary School from where it is, next to the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), to Shikusa because the land is there. We want the University to take up this land for purposes of developing a medical teaching and training hospital.

I want to thank former President Mwai Kibaki for giving an okay to this, and because members of the former Provincial Administration who are still in service and in higher offices in Nairobi are beneficiaries of the grabbed land from the Approved school, to Bukhungu Stadium, they have refused to give way, they have kept us in court and we are unable to receive the land that President Kibaki decreed through an executive order, that the University takes over the land.

Before the Chief Whip got married, she was our own daughter. Daughter of my own daughter, I want to remind you in your high office and closeness to President Uhuru, tell him that that University should be named after Kibaki---

Order! Address the Chair. I do not know even who you are addressing but it appears like you are addressing an individual Senator.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. This is a University where retired President Kibaki holds very dear. Every time I remind him that there is a graduation day as I will remind him this year, he asks why they are not speeding up. Tell the National Lands Commission and President Uhuru to speed up, we want to grow.

We also want to expand the Kakamega Airstrip. We want to lengthen the runway, and because it is adjacent to Shikusa, we want to move villagers around the Airstrip so that we convert our Airstrip into an Airport.

Less than 10 per cent of the people on Kenya Airways and Fly 540 who land in Kisumu, even those who will land today, will spend the night in Kisumu. The rest of the people who land at the airport in Kisumu are forced to drive all the way to Busia, Mumias, Bungoma and other areas because we lack our own airport.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my time is up but I would like to conclude by speaking to something that is very dear to me. At the moment, the Constitution of Kenya provides for death penalty. The last president to effect that law was President Moi. President Kibaki left office without ever effecting that law. President Uhuru took oath to uphold the Constitution of Kenya. Knowing very well that law exists, our judges and magistrates pronounce death penalty from time to time and it is unfortunate that it is only President Moi who, unfortunately, for political considerations allowed death penalty to take effect.

I ask President Uhuru to relieve the congestion in prisons. All the people on death penalty should pay as the judges found them guilty. What are they still doing there? These are the same people who break out of prison and go to rape our women and children. I support that this be done because it requires a strong man to be a president. When one swears to be the president and you cannot uphold the provision of death penalty in our Constitution--- The other considerations should only be in church. However, when it comes to the hot seat, you must ensure that the prisoners who are on death penalty, serve as an example to those who are thinking of committing similar crimes.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as law makers, we made a very big mistake when we provided that hardcore criminals can be released on bond. It is now so common to find that a person has committed murder in Kakamega and when he is released on bond, he goes back to the village and because the people he had targeted were two and he had succeeded in knocking out one, the person comes to Kawangware in Nairobi where Luhya’s like living and then takes a night bus, arrives at Kakamega at 3.00a.m., kills somebody and then comes back to Nairobi.

This is all because of the so called bail. I have an ongoing case where a Form Four boy, the son of Ignatius Likolokoli Mabia, a student at Lirhembe Academy, was last week hacked by a hardcore from Kawangware, called Martin. This was---

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want it to go on record that this was a mistake. We were misled by the lawyers.

Therefore, if you read or do issues around penal reforms, you will find that, that confinement itself is what is denied of you; that freedom of all other freedo

“We restrict you so that we can correct you.” Other countries have first moved from calling prisons “prisons” to “correctional facilities.” Maybe that is one of the progressive steps that this Committee can discuss; how we want to brand our penal system. Do we want to call them correctional facilities or prisons? Is there need to continue having the borstal institutions that we have or are there most appropriate ways to treat our children when they err? These are some of the most fundamental issues that we must interrogate because this new Constitution gives us that opportunity to interrogate the values that we have had over the years.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Is Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale in order to say that the President needs to uphold the Constitution and on the other side say that the Constitution being upheld by the court is a travesty? Is he in order to speak from both sides of his mouth?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank Sen. Adan, who is also a former Commissioner of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) . During her time at the KHRC, she advocated for women who had been raped. I thank Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and Sen. Hassan for the contributions they have made. I also thank our former Vice-President, Hon. Moody Awori who made sure that the plight of prisoners in our country was understood. It was during his tenure that people started having more outreach programmes to prisons.

Looking at prisons today, there is need to restructure the whole sector. We are currently doing police reforms but we have never thought of the inmates, the prison warders, and how to deal with petty offenders and hardcore criminals. When you visit prisons today, you will find that the petty offenders are put together with the hardcore criminals and that is why many Kenyans have ended up conned by inmates through the phone. Our mothers and grandmothers have sent Mpesa to those inmates unknowingly.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the fundamental issue that has been brought out by Sen. Adan is that we need to look at the issue of sanitation, nutrition and overcrowding in prisons. However, I think that until we look into the welfare of the warders, the issue of corruption will not end. Prison warderns are corrupt because their pay is low and their welfare is pathetic thus the need for them to look for alternative sources to make money. Article 10 of the Constitution is about national values and principles of governance. We should, therefore, treat the inmates with dignity while they serve their time in correctional facilities.

There was time when we had good juvenile facilities while today, we do not even know where the juvenile courts are or where to take juveniles who have been sentenced. It is very unfortunate that our youth are facing critical challenges today. They end up in hardcore gangs because when they are arrested and remanded at Industrial Area Remand Prison, they meet hardcore criminals who have committed serious crimes and they end up worse people than when they went in. When we talk about a correctional institution, how do we ensure that a young person who was imprisoned comes out reformed and ready to work with the community?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I commend former commissioner and distinguished Senator, Sen. Adan, for not only moving this Motion, but also giving me an opportunity to serve in this Committee. I believe I am going to add value for two reasons.

One, I have dedicated my intellectual property to what we call in Kiswahili, kutetea wanyonge. Secondly, it will give me an opportunity to share practical experiences that I had when I was an MOH in the old Kakamega District. I was expected to examine and recommend prisoners to be fit or otherwise for whipping.

there are hardcore criminals and they have no choice but have prisons. The best we can do is to ensure that prison facilities are taken care of.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, prisons were well taken care of during the former President Moi’s regime. They were established on huge chunks of land. However, most of that land has been grabbed by the same officers serving in the prisons. We have always ignored certain issues coming up in this country and people who serve in certain institutions prefer when we ignore or do not talk about them.

I thank Sen. Adan for bringing this Motion. This is one of the most prestigious sectors we have in this country, as much as it has many challenges. This is a sector businessmen prefer because they will supply maize, boots, uniforms and other things without caring about how they look.

If we have to talk about correcting what is rotten, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) should know that we must start with the police station that somebody is taken to before being taken to prison. When you walk into any police station in our country, you may wonder why it is very dirty. How will you correct somebody who sees that the environment they are entering is filthy and, therefore, they will remain filthy? The prisons are even filthier yet there are people, including prisoners, who could clean or paint them. Let the prisons or police stations be clean so that when a person walks in, they will see that they are sparkling.

When you walk into a police station in Europe, you will know that you are entering a centre where you must check your integrity, because the cleanliness will click in your mind. You will realise that you have wronged and need to change your behaviour. For our case, it is the most outrageous thing we have done to ourselves and to the dignity of our people because it is our brothers that we take to the correctional institutions. Therefore, we must start with police stations and people who welcome prisoners to prison.

When you look at the house of a prison warder, you may think that it is pig sty. I am sorry to say that. You will wonder why a prison warder in Langata should live in a hut yet we construct houses for them in even 10 days. To prison warders, the issue of better houses is strange. That means that the prisoner is much better because he or she is locked up in a house made of stone. That is unfortunate for prison warders who take care of prisoners yet nobody sees that.

The Committee will have to tell us about the challenges and welfare of the prison warders. The moment we address that, we will realise that those who are taken to prisons for being corrected need dignity. We need to change their mindset and attitude for them to go back and work with the communities. If we continue the same way, we will continue having gangs and terrorists. We should avoid conflict between arms of Government and consider the interests of the country. How do you expect the community to feel when you grant bail to a terrorist?

Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I support this Motion. It is important that we enforce Article 51 and comply with Article 2 (5) to conform to international law and conventions which we have ratified on human rights, detention and imprisonment of persons. Since you have practiced criminal law like me, you know what I mean. If you have not been to a Government of Kenya (GK) remand or

Lang’ata Women’s Prison, you do not know what you are talking about. If you have never heard of block D and E in GK Remand Prison, Industrial Area, you do not know what sort of violations we have.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether I should say this. Something curious happens at the GK Remand Prison that borders on violation of human rights beyond what I should say in public. It is something that we should investigate.

As a lawyer, one of the things I used to fear the most is for a client to be taken to a GK remand prison. That fear has now turned out into corruption because if you do not want your client to be remanded in block D, you pay for them to go to block E where they will get a blanket and some food. I do not know whether Sen. Adan has looked at the Prisons Act as it is.

It has a menu of the food that they should offer prisoners. It is well detailed but do they do it? No, they do not do it. If you go to the remand section at the Lang’ata Womens’ Prison and look at the young girls in remand, it will break your heart beyond belief. I had the experience and I remember asking you to join the rotary because maybe you would have had the experience like I did. When I was the president of my Rotary Club, we went and painted one of the rooms at the Lang’ata Women’s’ Prison.

In 2008, there were 64 infants in that condition and, you ask yourself how they ended up with 64 infants to begin with. The infants are subjected to such conditions as persons who are being punished for crimes.

The right of innocence in this Republic is violated by our prisons because the minute you enter a prison facility, you are condemned. If you do not come out of the prison, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale you must attest to this, with communicable diseases like tuberculosis or sexually transmitted diseases and others, you are lucky. Our people are being violated. In my view, there should be provision for non-custodial sentences where people who commit petty crimes, instead of waiting for His Excellency the President to issue a general amnesty for them to be released to clean compounds and offices of fat cats. These are the people who should be cleaning the City of Nairobi, courts, prisons and collecting garbage under non-custodial sentences. In fact, we would save money that the Ministry of Devolution and Planning is paying to clear drainages because we have people who are spending public funds for petty crimes in our remands waiting for their cases to be heard and they will never be heard.

We must congratulate the Chief Justice, Willy Mutunga. He has wisely thought that we can translocate some prisons so that matters are heard expeditiously but it is also not helping. When the remandees are brought to court and you look at them wearing different shoes, you do not want your relative in any prison in Kenya.

This Motion is timely because we must treat all Kenyans in conformity with the conventions on Human Rights. More so, the persons who are convicted and sentenced must come out as better people. These are the people - I stand corrected - who made these seats and the number plates. What happens when they come out? They become hardcore criminals.

When young people are in custody, they pick all the bad habits because they would rather go back and stay in prisons because it has also become a business. Crime is

now conducted remotely through prisons. There are instances where criminals have escaped, committed crimes and gone back to prison.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we are going to deal with the criminal justice system properly from the time a complaint is launched to the time there is a conviction or an acquittal, we must deal with the way people are treated and as Sen. Elachi said, the way they are treated in police cells. Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o you may not be aware that there are people who live in our police cells. It is like a residence. There is a place in Kilimani Police Station referred to as either Kileleshwa or Kasarani, depending on which side you sleep.

I am happy that I have been put in this Committee because I have the experience of how these people are treated. What comes out after this is that, they become worse human beings than before imprisonment. I suggest that we go a little deeper in this. I agree with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale that we have enough land to have prisons in counties. The proposal to have high courts and other courts in all counties should similarly be followed by prisons. It does not make sense to jail someone in Makindu and take him to Kakamega. What is the point of jailing him in Nairobi and taking him to Shimo la Tewa? What exactly is achieved by that transportation of prisoners? When these people are being transported to courts, the men and women are confined together in the motor vehicles. It is a tragedy.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said but more needs to be done. Importantly, the persons who take care of these prisoners also have rights. Those rights have not been taken care of. The police who guard us all live in squalor. Sen. Adan, as we propose that we deal with prisoners, we are going to propose that we deal with the security sector so that the reforms on how the prison warders are treated should apply uniformly because they are trained in a similar fashion.

When we have problems like the post-election violence in Naivasha, who do you think came out of the prisons to assist in quelling the violence? It was the prison warders. Does anybody remember them? Nobody remembers that if the Naivasha prison warders did not take quick action, the Luos and Luhyas in Naivasha would have lost their lives in a manner that I do not want to say in public. Therefore, we must recognise them. When we recognise police officers, we do not recognise this cadre of prison warders who are also dealing with the people who you do not want to deal with. For instance, the criminals that Sen. G.G. Kariuki once jailed; there is a human being who is dealing with them and the things they do day and night. That person should be given an element of recognition because it is possible that even prison warders are suffering from frustration of having to deal with people who we consider outcast yet in my criminal practice I know that there are many people who are in crime, not because they wanted to but because of poverty.

They want to make a coin here and there, drive a car like their leader, buy a phone like they have seen so that they go into crime without the intention of going into it. We must provide an avenue of rehabilitating this human being who is in prison for circumstances beyond their control. Some of them who I was representing have confessed to me that they cannot do without crime because this was an avenue for them to make one or two shillings. In fact, they were happy to be in prison because they did not

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. This is a University where retired President Kibaki holds very dear. Every time I remind him that there is a graduation day as I will remind him this year, he asks why they are not speeding up. Tell the National Lands Commission and President Uhuru to speed up, we want to grow.

We also want to expand the Kakamega Airstrip. We want to lengthen the runway, and because it is adjacent to Shikusa, we want to move villagers around the Airstrip so that we convert our Airstrip into an Airport.

Less than 10 per cent of the people on Kenya Airways and Fly 540 who land in Kisumu, even those who will land today, will spend the night in Kisumu. The rest of the people who land at the airport in Kisumu are forced to drive all the way to Busia, Mumias, Bungoma and other areas because we lack our own airport.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my time is up but I would like to conclude by speaking to something that is very dear to me. At the moment, the Constitution of Kenya provides for death penalty. The last president to effect that law was President Moi. President Kibaki left office without ever effecting that law. President Uhuru took oath to uphold the Constitution of Kenya. Knowing very well that law exists, our judges and magistrates pronounce death penalty from time to time and it is unfortunate that it is only President Moi who, unfortunately, for political considerations allowed death penalty to take effect.

I ask President Uhuru to relieve the congestion in prisons. All the people on death penalty should pay as the judges found them guilty. What are they still doing there? These are the same people who break out of prison and go to rape our women and children. I support that this be done because it requires a strong man to be a president. When one swears to be the president and you cannot uphold the provision of death penalty in our Constitution--- The other considerations should only be in church. However, when it comes to the hot seat, you must ensure that the prisoners who are on death penalty, serve as an example to those who are thinking of committing similar crimes.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as law makers, we made a very big mistake when we provided that hardcore criminals can be released on bond. It is now so common to find that a person has committed murder in Kakamega and when he is released on bond, he goes back to the village and because the people he had targeted were two and he had succeeded in knocking out one, the person comes to Kawangware in Nairobi where Luhya’s like living and then takes a night bus, arrives at Kakamega at 3.00a.m., kills somebody and then comes back to Nairobi.

This is all because of the so called bail. I have an ongoing case where a Form Four boy, the son of Ignatius Likolokoli Mabia, a student at Lirhembe Academy, was last week hacked by a hardcore from Kawangware, called Martin. This was---

have to look for food, be haunted, work and they had safety. They were happy to be in prison.

The policies which we will adopt and methods that we will come up with must also be internationally recognized. For instance, Barack Obama was the first President to visit a federal prison. You should get President Uhuru to go to Kamiti Maximum Prison and Lang’ata Women’s Prison and spend some time with those fellows so that they can feel like Kenyans and want to get out of those institutions.

You remember the lady of Kenya Airways; when I went to visit Langata Women’s Prisons – I am happy the way they treat the women in this prison, particularly the ones who have been convicted live very well. This lady who had been convicted for drug trafficking had a DVD player; she used to watch movies and write books. If we transpose what happens at the Lang’ata Women’s Prison to all our prison facilities, it is possible to get an author or a lawyer like John Grisham in the book, The Brethren. I know that G.G. has not read it. You should read The Brethren because it talks about prison facilities where professionals went and gave professional services to their counterparts.

You are challenging, Sen. G.G. Kariuki?

Then refer to him by his correct title.

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Sen. G.G. Kariuki. I apologise; no ill will.

I support this Motion and hope that we can do this before we go on recess although we are overwhelmed by these select committees but we will do our level best.

Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I join my colleagues in lauding and congratulating Sen. Adan for ably bringing this Motion to the Senate. The people who are in the prisons today are none other than the people who are in our counties. These are people who need correction because of the evil mistakes that they have done.

This Motion proposes something to be done to correct some of the deplorable state of conditions in Kenya’s prisons. In 1911, the British introduced correctional centres in Kenya. At that time, they managed to gather 331 warders to look after the criminals who were over 6,000. As late as 2010, when the new Constitution came into effect, we had almost 100 correctional centres and over 50,000 inmates. We had a substantial number of staff who were working in these centres. A number of us have visited relatives or friends who have been taken to these correctional centres.

I have visited Kapenguria Prison and I am surprised at the way these centres have remained from 1911. I visited Kepenguria when it was being built in the 1940s during the Second World War. The houses that the first prisoners slept in are the same ones that the current, the present and the future will be in. Another amazing thing that we found is that the warders are being paid a salary which is very miserable because it starts from Kshs18,000. They work to become constables which is after 20 years and they end up getting around Kshs30,000.

The only decent thing about the officers is the uniform and the shoes. They have no houses. The houses are similar to the ones that the criminals sleep in. The only distinction is the way they dress. They wear different clothes.

As the Senator listed here, we have international instruments; one of them is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. There are almost seven of them. Kenya has had the privilege of having these documents but we have not attempted to reform the correctional services and centres to the extent that we can feel properly at peace so that if an offender is taken through these centres, they will come out changed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are still using the same old technique that was found in the Bible where Apostle Paul was taken to a very remote island called Patmos. The people who came to Kenya in 1911 think that we created our island to deposit these people like Syberia, where Mandela went for 27years.

Prisons like Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and the Lang’ata Women’s Prison are some of those that we have here. We have not changed the model. If those people who started them rose from the grave today, they would be surprised that the centres are the exact ones that we had at that time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have keen interest to know because in 1952 when the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was arrested and tried in Kapenguria, he was taken to a prison where some criminals wanted to kill him one night. Just before that time, a young man called Saiwa Chemonges from Pokot quickly ran and told the old man: “Change the position of your bed because we have heard the wazungus are planning to kill you.” Indeed, they tried to kill him. Sure enough in the late 1960s, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta appointed Saiwa the first African Commissioner in charge of prisons.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is Saikwa Chemonges. Since then, West Pokot County has had the privilege and honour to hold the post of Prison Commissioner. The late Saikwa was the first, then Mzee Lopokoiyit followed by Mr. Kamakil and now Mr. Osugo.

When I asked the retired officers, Mr. Lopokoiyit and Mr. Kamakil, why there were no reforms, they said that they tried to propose the reforms but it looked like no Kenyan ever imagines that you can put money and reform a prisoner. So, the proposals that they laid on the table were not followed and are now in the archives of the parent Ministry. May be we would have seen a change in this department if there was what has just taken place in the Ministry of Education where we have public schools. About 15 years ago, we introduced private schools where nobody wanted to take their children.

What does it cost if Kenya also allows some entrepreneur to come up with a private prison or correctional centre? When retired President Mwai Kibaki came into power, he introduced free primary education. It was because the ones in private schools had an upper hand and so the Government had to introduce an amount of money to get more facilities and equipment into schools as opposed to before. This is the way that we can trigger some of the changes there.

Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I support this Motion. It is important that we enforce Article 51 and comply with Article 2 (5) to conform to international law and conventions which we have ratified on human rights, detention and imprisonment of persons. Since you have practiced criminal law like me, you know what I mean. If you have not been to a Government of Kenya (GK) remand or

Lang’ata Women’s Prison, you do not know what you are talking about. If you have never heard of block D and E in GK Remand Prison, Industrial Area, you do not know what sort of violations we have.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether I should say this. Something curious happens at the GK Remand Prison that borders on violation of human rights beyond what I should say in public. It is something that we should investigate.

As a lawyer, one of the things I used to fear the most is for a client to be taken to a GK remand prison. That fear has now turned out into corruption because if you do not want your client to be remanded in block D, you pay for them to go to block E where they will get a blanket and some food. I do not know whether Sen. Adan has looked at the Prisons Act as it is.

It has a menu of the food that they should offer prisoners. It is well detailed but do they do it? No, they do not do it. If you go to the remand section at the Lang’ata Womens’ Prison and look at the young girls in remand, it will break your heart beyond belief. I had the experience and I remember asking you to join the rotary because maybe you would have had the experience like I did. When I was the president of my Rotary Club, we went and painted one of the rooms at the Lang’ata Women’s’ Prison.

In 2008, there were 64 infants in that condition and, you ask yourself how they ended up with 64 infants to begin with. The infants are subjected to such conditions as persons who are being punished for crimes.

The right of innocence in this Republic is violated by our prisons because the minute you enter a prison facility, you are condemned. If you do not come out of the prison, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale you must attest to this, with communicable diseases like tuberculosis or sexually transmitted diseases and others, you are lucky. Our people are being violated. In my view, there should be provision for non-custodial sentences where people who commit petty crimes, instead of waiting for His Excellency the President to issue a general amnesty for them to be released to clean compounds and offices of fat cats. These are the people who should be cleaning the City of Nairobi, courts, prisons and collecting garbage under non-custodial sentences. In fact, we would save money that the Ministry of Devolution and Planning is paying to clear drainages because we have people who are spending public funds for petty crimes in our remands waiting for their cases to be heard and they will never be heard.

We must congratulate the Chief Justice, Willy Mutunga. He has wisely thought that we can translocate some prisons so that matters are heard expeditiously but it is also not helping. When the remandees are brought to court and you look at them wearing different shoes, you do not want your relative in any prison in Kenya.

This Motion is timely because we must treat all Kenyans in conformity with the conventions on Human Rights. More so, the persons who are convicted and sentenced must come out as better people. These are the people - I stand corrected - who made these seats and the number plates. What happens when they come out? They become hardcore criminals.

When young people are in custody, they pick all the bad habits because they would rather go back and stay in prisons because it has also become a business. Crime is

now conducted remotely through prisons. There are instances where criminals have escaped, committed crimes and gone back to prison.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we are going to deal with the criminal justice system properly from the time a complaint is launched to the time there is a conviction or an acquittal, we must deal with the way people are treated and as Sen. Elachi said, the way they are treated in police cells. Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o you may not be aware that there are people who live in our police cells. It is like a residence. There is a place in Kilimani Police Station referred to as either Kileleshwa or Kasarani, depending on which side you sleep.

I am happy that I have been put in this Committee because I have the experience of how these people are treated. What comes out after this is that, they become worse human beings than before imprisonment. I suggest that we go a little deeper in this. I agree with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale that we have enough land to have prisons in counties. The proposal to have high courts and other courts in all counties should similarly be followed by prisons. It does not make sense to jail someone in Makindu and take him to Kakamega. What is the point of jailing him in Nairobi and taking him to Shimo la Tewa? What exactly is achieved by that transportation of prisoners? When these people are being transported to courts, the men and women are confined together in the motor vehicles. It is a tragedy.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said but more needs to be done. Importantly, the persons who take care of these prisoners also have rights. Those rights have not been taken care of. The police who guard us all live in squalor. Sen. Adan, as we propose that we deal with prisoners, we are going to propose that we deal with the security sector so that the reforms on how the prison warders are treated should apply uniformly because they are trained in a similar fashion.

When we have problems like the post-election violence in Naivasha, who do you think came out of the prisons to assist in quelling the violence? It was the prison warders. Does anybody remember them? Nobody remembers that if the Naivasha prison warders did not take quick action, the Luos and Luhyas in Naivasha would have lost their lives in a manner that I do not want to say in public. Therefore, we must recognise them. When we recognise police officers, we do not recognise this cadre of prison warders who are also dealing with the people who you do not want to deal with. For instance, the criminals that Sen. G.G. Kariuki once jailed; there is a human being who is dealing with them and the things they do day and night. That person should be given an element of recognition because it is possible that even prison warders are suffering from frustration of having to deal with people who we consider outcast yet in my criminal practice I know that there are many people who are in crime, not because they wanted to but because of poverty.

They want to make a coin here and there, drive a car like their leader, buy a phone like they have seen so that they go into crime without the intention of going into it. We must provide an avenue of rehabilitating this human being who is in prison for circumstances beyond their control. Some of them who I was representing have confessed to me that they cannot do without crime because this was an avenue for them to make one or two shillings. In fact, they were happy to be in prison because they did not

have to look for food, be haunted, work and they had safety. They were happy to be in prison.

The policies which we will adopt and methods that we will come up with must also be internationally recognized. For instance, Barack Obama was the first President to visit a federal prison. You should get President Uhuru to go to Kamiti Maximum Prison and Lang’ata Women’s Prison and spend some time with those fellows so that they can feel like Kenyans and want to get out of those institutions.

You remember the lady of Kenya Airways; when I went to visit Langata Women’s Prisons – I am happy the way they treat the women in this prison, particularly the ones who have been convicted live very well. This lady who had been convicted for drug trafficking had a DVD player; she used to watch movies and write books. If we transpose what happens at the Lang’ata Women’s Prison to all our prison facilities, it is possible to get an author or a lawyer like John Grisham in the book, The Brethren. I know that G.G. has not read it. You should read The Brethren because it talks about prison facilities where professionals went and gave professional services to their counterparts.

You are challenging, Sen. G.G. Kariuki?

Then refer to him by his correct title.

Attorney General, Mr. Githu Muigai that currently, people can go to court and claim compensation from the State. I do not know whether there are records for the ‘old’ Nyayo House but I hope that is one the thing that the Committee will establish.

Order, Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I join my colleagues in lauding and congratulating Sen. Adan for ably bringing this Motion to the Senate. The people who are in the prisons today are none other than the people who are in our counties. These are people who need correction because of the evil mistakes that they have done.

This Motion proposes something to be done to correct some of the deplorable state of conditions in Kenya’s prisons. In 1911, the British introduced correctional centres in Kenya. At that time, they managed to gather 331 warders to look after the criminals who were over 6,000. As late as 2010, when the new Constitution came into effect, we had almost 100 correctional centres and over 50,000 inmates. We had a substantial number of staff who were working in these centres. A number of us have visited relatives or friends who have been taken to these correctional centres.

I have visited Kapenguria Prison and I am surprised at the way these centres have remained from 1911. I visited Kepenguria when it was being built in the 1940s during the Second World War. The houses that the first prisoners slept in are the same ones that the current, the present and the future will be in. Another amazing thing that we found is that the warders are being paid a salary which is very miserable because it starts from Kshs18,000. They work to become constables which is after 20 years and they end up getting around Kshs30,000.

The only decent thing about the officers is the uniform and the shoes. They have no houses. The houses are similar to the ones that the criminals sleep in. The only distinction is the way they dress. They wear different clothes.

As the Senator listed here, we have international instruments; one of them is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. There are almost seven of them. Kenya has had the privilege of having these documents but we have not attempted to reform the correctional services and centres to the extent that we can feel properly at peace so that if an offender is taken through these centres, they will come out changed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are still using the same old technique that was found in the Bible where Apostle Paul was taken to a very remote island called Patmos. The people who came to Kenya in 1911 think that we created our island to deposit these people like Syberia, where Mandela went for 27years.

Prisons like Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and the Lang’ata Women’s Prison are some of those that we have here. We have not changed the model. If those people who started them rose from the grave today, they would be surprised that the centres are the exact ones that we had at that time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have keen interest to know because in 1952 when the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was arrested and tried in Kapenguria, he was taken to a prison where some criminals wanted to kill him one night. Just before that time, a young man called Saiwa Chemonges from Pokot quickly ran and told the old man: “Change the position of your bed because we have heard the wazungus are planning to kill you.” Indeed, they tried to kill him. Sure enough in the late 1960s, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta appointed Saiwa the first African Commissioner in charge of prisons.

Is it Saiwa or Saikwa? We must not distort history.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is Saikwa Chemonges. Since then, West Pokot County has had the privilege and honour to hold the post of Prison Commissioner. The late Saikwa was the first, then Mzee Lopokoiyit followed by Mr. Kamakil and now Mr. Osugo.

When I asked the retired officers, Mr. Lopokoiyit and Mr. Kamakil, why there were no reforms, they said that they tried to propose the reforms but it looked like no Kenyan ever imagines that you can put money and reform a prisoner. So, the proposals that they laid on the table were not followed and are now in the archives of the parent Ministry. May be we would have seen a change in this department if there was what has just taken place in the Ministry of Education where we have public schools. About 15 years ago, we introduced private schools where nobody wanted to take their children.

What does it cost if Kenya also allows some entrepreneur to come up with a private prison or correctional centre? When retired President Mwai Kibaki came into power, he introduced free primary education. It was because the ones in private schools had an upper hand and so the Government had to introduce an amount of money to get more facilities and equipment into schools as opposed to before. This is the way that we can trigger some of the changes there.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have gone through the list of the team of 11 Senators who have been suggested here. Six of them are lawyers, one is a medical doctor, I am a mathematician and the remaining three are social scientists. We hope that in the three months that have been suggested, this mixture of professionals will sample and visit some of the correctional centres where strange things normally happen as we have heard.

We even hear that strange text messages sometimes emanate from prisons threatening people. The Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has tried to investigate such issues. Some prisoners recently threatened a friend of mine and the messages were traced all the way to Kisumu County’s Kodiaga Prison. They are the ones who know how to threaten and blackmail people. In the year 2010 when the new Constitution was promulgated, the Ministry of Education came up with a commission to align the education sector to the new Constitution. The commission was led by Prof. Douglas Odhiambo and in 2012, Prof. Ongeri who was the Minister form Education then, launched a document that was written by that commission.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Mover of this Motion said, I am yet to see existing legislations on correctional services aligned to the new Constitution of Kenya,

Thank you, Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo.Please proceed Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'- Nyong’o.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this Motion. I also congratulate my dear friend, Sen. Adan, for bringing it to the Senate and choosing a very competent list of hon. Members to be in the Select Committee. I want to speak specifically about police cells. I will only speak of my experience in one prison, because I was once imprisoned at Luzira Maximum Security Prison in Uganda in 1969.

I have been put in police cells in the following police stations in Kenya: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Police Station near the Integrity Centre, Kabete Police Station, Kileleshwa Police Station, the Central Police Station, the Police Station near the “Machakos Airport” on the way to Shauri Moyo, which I cannot quite remember its name, the Muthaiga Police Station, the Kisumu Police Station, the Traffic Headquarters Police Station near Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and finally, Nyayo House where I spent about 30 days.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was in prison at the Luzira Maximum Security Prison for a couple of days. During those days, prison conditions in Kenya and Uganda were more or less the same. I remember very well the lack of human rights and the indignity of being in a prison cell. You had a bowl for your toilet and you were responsible for looking after it. You had only a few hours in the morning to see daylight when you were cutting grass. You would spend the rest of your days in the prison cell. I was taken to prison because being a student leader – the President of the students’ guild at Makerere University – we had organised a demonstration against the British Government to protest against their sale of arms to the Apartheid Regime in South Africa. The Uganda Government did not take that kindly.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, of all the police stations where I was held for a couple of days waiting to be taken to court, I remember, in particular, the police station near the Machakos Bus Stop where I found 40 people crowded in a place not bigger than, I would say, 10 by 10 feet. Since I was a Member of Parliament (MP) , the person in charge was kind enough to order those people out of that small room so that I could stay there alone. I felt very bad because I knew that those 40 people would experience an even worse situation whereas I would enjoy a room to myself.

There was a trench with dudus within the prison cell, along which the sewage moved. The smell was terrible. You can image the smell and the 40 people who were there. I was alone but I could not stand it. However, since I had been held the whole night without sleeping, I actually fell asleep under those circumstances. Had it not been for my lawyers – a whole team of lawyers from Parliament including Sen. Murungi who came in the afternoon with a habeas corpus – my experience in that place would have been horrible.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to talk about the other police stations that I have mentioned. Although they were a little bit neater than the one near the Machakos Bus Stop, nonetheless, they were equally inhuman. I was held in and my shoes were taken away from me. They also took my belt because, I think, they suspected that I could hang myself using it. You were kept in a police cell for many days without brushing your

teeth or combing your hair. They give you that food if you are lucky, but is it worth human consumption?

It is the relationship between a detainee in a police cell and the police which is most inhuman. These people should realize that while you are detained in a police cell, you have not been accused of anything. Being treated worse than a prisoner is unfair. Let me move on to my experience in Nyayo House because it is becoming history.

In 1981, my dear friend Sen. G.G. Kariuki who was then Minister for Internal Security had my papers on his desk to be detained but I escaped to Mexico and he never detained me. When I came back, as we were starting the struggle for the second Independence - by the way this is something that Sen. G.G. Kariuki and I had talked about very humorously and so, I am not casting aspersions to him because he was then a servant of the state, fulfilling the obligations of internal security, much as a displeasure---

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on a point of order, I wish to remind my friend Hon. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o that the Minister of State in charge of Internal Security does not detain anyone. Even today, this job is supposed to be done by another minister. Not the minister of state. If it were me, may be, the story would have been different but I did not. I need to correct you.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand corrected. We shall share our jokes later with Sen. G.G. Kariuki.

I was saying that, what is most inhuman, especially, at Nyayo House which is now history, is that, it is better to be taken to Kamiti Maximum Prison where at least the laws are clear on what happens to a prisoner. It is worse to be at the Nyayo House torture chambers. Apparently, that was never safeguarded by any law. Anything can happen to you. One of the things is that you do not have any right in the dungeon there. You go there on the 1st of May fully dressed. Your shoes and belt are removed. You stay with those clothes for a whole month without changing.

Secondly, you are allowed to take a shower but without soap. You just take a cold shower and hope that you will be clean. When you leave the shower room, you go to your cell without a towel. I used to run around the cell until I am dry.

Attorney General, Mr. Githu Muigai that currently, people can go to court and claim compensation from the State. I do not know whether there are records for the ‘old’ Nyayo House but I hope that is one the thing that the Committee will establish.

Order, Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-

Hon. Senators, it is now 6.30 p.m., time to interrupt the business of the Senate. Therefore, the Senate stands adjourned until Tuesday, 13th October, 2015 at 2.30 p.m.

The Senate rose at 6.30 p.m.