Tuesday, 15th November 2022

Hon. Members, we have quorum to transact business.

Hon. Members, there is a Petition regarding funds spent by the national Government contrary to the provisions of Article 223 of the Constitution.

Hon. Members, pursuant to Standing Order 225 (2) (b) , which requires the Speaker to report to the House any Petition other than those presented by a Member, I wish to report to the House that I have received a Petition from Mr. Stephen Mutoro, the Secretary General of the Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) , a non-profit and non-political society registered under the Societies Act Cap. 108, which is committed to promoting consumer protection. The Petition avers that towards the end of the term of the Jubilee Administration, Ksh55 billion was spent without the approval of the National Assembly, contrary to the provisions of Article 223 of the Constitution. The petitioner is concerned that the expenditure of such colossal sums was incurred by the Government at a time when the country was grappling with a huge public debt, high inflation and high cost of living. The petitioner states that the lack of transparency and accountability in the run-up to the transition from one administration to another was a matter of great concern.

Further, the petitioner is concerned that if unchecked, similar incidents will recur in the future, leading to further burden to the taxpayer. Efforts by the petitioner to have the matter addressed by the Ministry of National Treasury and Planning have not been fruitful. The petitioner, therefore, humbly prays that the National Assembly orders that the Auditor General conducts a forensic audit on all public expenditure by the National Government between July and September 2022 and amends the relevant laws to bar outgoing administrations from spending any such public funds irregularly and make any other recommendations that are deemed fit.

Having established that the matter raised in the Petition is well within the authority of this House, I direct that the Petition be committed to the Public Petitions Committee for consideration

in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order 208A. The Committee is required to consider the matter and report its findings to the House and the petitioner in accordance with Standing Order 227 (2).

I thank you. The Hon. Members standing at the bar, take the nearest seat available before I move on to the next Petition.

The Hon. Members upstanding at the bar, please, take the nearest available seats. Rev. Nthumbi further states that the Commissioners grossly misconducted themselves by:

commission as set out in Articles 251(1) and (2) of the Constitution. The Committee has 14 days within which to submit a report to the House, as required under Standing Order 230 (4).

My predecessor, Hon. Justin Muturi, previously guided this House that the proceedings relating to removal of persons from office are quasi-judicial in nature and require judicious attention and sobriety. Even the High Court has had occasion with regard to a petition for the removal from office of the then Auditor-General, Mr. Edward Ouko, to remind the House that it must conduct any quasi-judicial proceedings in strict compliance with Article 47 of the Constitution, and Section 4 of the Fair Administrative Action Act, 2015. Section 4 of the Fair

Administrative Action Act, 2015 reads as follows:

“4 (1) Every person has the right to administrative action which is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.

the House or its committees may actively question witnesses to elicit evidence in an inquiry, Article 251 (3) of the Constitution only requires the House to consider a petition and satisfy itself whether the petition discloses a ground for removal. Interrogation and confirmation of the allegations contained in the petition shall be the work of a tribunal appointed by the President for that purpose, if a ground for removal is disclosed.

Hon. Members, in light of the foregoing and previous challenges encountered in consideration of petitions for removal of constitutional office holders, permit me to direct as follows with regard to the manner in which the Committee shall conduct its hearings:

necessary, seek an extension of the foregoing timelines to enable it to comprehensively interrogate the Petitions and report to the House.

Thank you.

On a point of clarification, Hon. Speaker. I came in mid-way your Communication on the Petitions. I need your clarification and guidance on one issue. It has been the tradition and part of our rules…

Hon. Wandayi, under Standing Order 226, Members are free to make comments and contributions on petitions for 30 minutes. I will give each Member speaking two minutes to comment.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. That gives me a better latitude to make my comments.

This is a House of rules, and we pride ourselves as such. It has been our tradition, and part of our rules as provided for by the Standing Orders that whenever petitions of whatever kind or nature – be it one calling for removal of commissioners from office or one concerning the welfare of members of the public – if it touches on matters that are active before a court of law it should not be entertained.

This House has been very cautious right from the time I joined it in 2013, not to entertain any petition of whatever kind, from whomsoever and from wherever. I came midway your Communication but I take note of the particular Petition by Rev. Nthumbi. In his Petition, among other things, he has asked if the four commissioners were involved in convening meetings to appoint legal representation against the provisions of the Commission. I do not know how much time I am left with because I am seeing the yellow light, which means I should be winding up.

Your time is over.

No, no, no. As we speak, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the IEBC, Madam Ruth Kulundu, has gone to court. Among other things, she has convened a meeting with the four commissioners to decide on legal representation. This House will, therefore, be contravening its own rules and, generally, the law by entertaining a petition touching on issues that are active before court. I do not see the urgency. We can wait for the court matter to be concluded.

Order, Members. Your time is up, Hon. Wandayi.

Hon. Speaker, I am speaking law but my friend, Hon. Pukose, is heckling. There is no point of heckling. Just pay attention to what I am saying.

Hon Members, my screen is full. I do not know if all of you want to contribute to the petitions?

Hon. Speaker, mine is an intervention.

You have two minutes.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. First, I want to correct my colleague, Hon. Opiyo Wandayi that I am not heckling. It is wrong for him to make an improper motive against me when his record in this House is known. He was suspended from the House in the past for gross misconduct.

I support the Petition by Mr. Stephen Mutoro in view of the fact that the Governments must be accountable. In his Petition, he claims that Ksh55 billion was spent in a period of two months, which is worrying. When the Committee looks at the Petition, it must hold to account the accounting officers who signed and participated in defrauding the country of the Ksh55 billion.

Secondly, on the petitions by Rev. Nthumbi, Geoffrey Lagat and Mr. Awuor Gerry on removal of the four Commissioners, the case in court is not about removal of the four commissioners from office but rather on hiring of the lawyers. The Committee will, however, be able to look at whether the matter is sub judice or not as it proceeds with its work. When a Member claims that a matter is sub judice, he should be able to present documentation to the House to support his claim. Without documentation, you cannot gag a Committee of Parliament.

I support.

Hon. Gideon Ochanda.

Hon. Speaker, I want to comment on the issue of Article 223. As Members, we need to do the right things and approve the national Budget. Article 223 gives space within which the Executive is able to use monies that have not yet been approved by this House. It is a contradiction in one way or the other but more fundamentally, the amounts involved, and particularly the over Ksh200 billion involved in this Petition, is too huge. Even if this level of unapproved expenditure is allowed under Article 223, something must be done about it. The Executive is basically taking over the role of preparing budgets from this House. I plead that, as a House, we need to rectify this anomaly one way or the other. We need to put a limit within which unapproved expenditure of public funds can take place or we do away with Article

Hon. Didmus.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to support all the petitions as presented to us by you, and most importantly the petitions seeking to remove some commissioners from office for the reasons that have been properly laid down.

All Kenyans have been given powers by the Constitution to petition this House on anything as long as they raise matters which are factual. I defend my very good friend, Hon. Opiyo Wandayi, because I have heard some Members complain about him. He is justified to say so. It is only that he is a member of a party that has a clear history. Even today, they can decide to remove him from office. He is, therefore, justified. The party did right to put him where he is.

I support the petitions.

On a point of order, Hon. Speaker.

Yes, Hon. Wandayi.

Hon. Speaker, it is not in my nature to interrupt colleagues when they are on the Floor, but is it in order for Hon. Barasa to impute improper motive on myself and on my party, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the matter before us?

Can you, kindly, rule him out of order and make him understand that whenever I stand here, I speak to very serious issues and remain objective given my long experience in this House?

Thank you.

You have made your point, Hon. Wandayi. Hon. Didmus, note that Hon. Wandayi is not part of the petitions.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Let me summarise my support and say that we look forward to the hearings. We will be there to listen and we will write to the….

On a point of order, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Barasa’s time is up and he is already off the Floor. I have given the Floor to Hon. Beatrice Elachi.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I just want to remind the House that it is, indeed, Kenyans who have brought these petitions.

Hon Speaker, I am sure you recall when we dealt with the matter of IEBC when we were in the Senate. As politicians, this is an institution that we have worked on. We deliberate and decide on how it should work but after every general election, we always have issues with IEBC. I have realized that we only deal with the commissioners but not the staff. Therefore, I urge that as we look at these petitions, we realign IEBC to regain its independence. Now that the three Commissioners are also on their way out, we will have a clean slate. I do not want to say anything about that since I am aware that the matter is in court. It would be proper for us to follow up on the matters that are in court before we consider these petitions.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

On a point of order, Hon. Speaker.

What is out of order, Hon. Kajwang’?

Hon. Speaker, there is an issue we struggled with in the 12th Parliament but it continues to give us headache to-date. You may want to make a considered ruling on this one. It is with regard to how Members dress in this Chamber. It is a condescending issue because we have the Speaker’s Manual on dress code. You have been a Member of this House for a very long time, and so you have this on your fingertips. If a Member is dressed in a manner which does not depict his religious persuasion, or which does not generally…

Thank you, Hon, TJ Kajwang’. I will do so. Hon. Gitonga Murugara.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I wish to speak on two issues. The first one is the sub judice rule, which has been alluded to. The Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs is very well versed with the sub judice rule.

That is not a matter before the House, and you do not need to belabour it.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Secondly, as you have rightly observed, the Committee is actually a quasi-judicial team that should be playing a role similar to that of a court of law. That means it is going to be an impartial umpire. It will listen to

all the parties impartially. Each party will be heard and given a fair chance to present and defend itself. Therefore, it should not worry the House as regards to whether the Committee is going to prosecute or defend. The Committee is purely quasi-judicial, it is going to hear the parties then guide the House on what should be done with these four petitions.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Millie Odhiambo.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I just wish to indicate that I am serving my fourth term and would want to encourage this House to borrow from history. Once elections are done with, the country moves on. So, let us not get stuck at a point where we still want to feel like we are electioneering. Our side of the coalition went to court, which ruled against us. We were called all manner of names like ‘hot air’, ‘cold air’ and ‘wild goose chasers’. Despite all that, we accepted and moved on. Therefore, I think these petitions are in very bad taste as they are taking the country back to the electioneering period. As at now, we need to let the commissioners go on with their work. Let the ones who are supposed to retire do so honourably. Equally, let the ones who want to continue with their work continue. Even if you look at the ruling of the Supreme Court, there is nothing untoward that has been said about them. They actually did not do anything illegal. The country must realise that we are moving on and we must stop getting stuck. Let us borrow from history.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. First, I want to react to what Hon. Millie Odhiambo has said. We must appreciate that these Petitions are from members of the public who have every right to petition this House. Therefore, we should consider the Petitions with due diligence and give justice to them.

More profoundly is the Petition by Rev. Nthumbi on the removal of the commissioners. I want to beseech Members that since this is a Petition by a member of the public, we must allow JLAC to do its work. I applaud you because you have guided JLAC on how to conduct work in regard to the Petitions. We must allow the Committee to consider the Petitions. This is just the first stage in the process of dealing with constitutional commissions. I do not want to say much.

On the Petition by Mr. Stephen Mutoro of the Consumers Federation of Kenya, I must say that I support it. Further, I note that, indeed, the previous regime committed close to Ksh200 billion out of the Budget cycle. If we do not stop this now, it will portend a very bad precedent for the current regime. I want to request the Public Petitions Committee to take up this matter with gusto and address the issue of abuse of Article 223 of the Constitution. This is because many of the things on which this money was committed in the last days of the previous regime are things that would have waited to be considered for resource allocation in the next Budget. Better still, they would have waited for a Supplementary Budget this year.

Therefore, I support the Petition by COFEK. I encourage the Public Petitions Committee to act very fast to get us to know the real details of the unseen things that the previous regime was so intent on spending on.

Hon. Atandi.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I want to comment on the Petition by Mr. Stephen Mutoro on abuse of Article

Hon. Orero Peter.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I would like to comment on the Petitions starting with the one by Mr. Mutoro on the huge sums of money spent during the electioneering period. Article 223 of the Constitution has very good intentions. It speaks to how it is supposed to be used, but all the previous regimes have abused it. I hope the current regime will not also use this leeway to spend money that is not provided in the Budget. I concur with my colleagues that any money that must be used should always be in the Budget.

Regarding the Petition on removal of IEBC Commissioners from office by Nthumbi, these are the commissioners who conducted the general elections that ended in the recent past. I beseech this House that we do not resurrect emotions when the country has already moved on. Despite the fact that these are petitions from members of the public, we are at the preliminary stage. We are giving JLAC time to go and look at them and give the parties opportunity to be heard. I suggest that when the Committee brings its report to the House, we look at these commissioners as the persons who oversaw the very competitive elections that we had. Now that we have a Government in place, I would want to plead with my colleagues on the other side of the House to consider this matter in a manner that will help this country to move forward, and not retrogress.

Let us hear Hon. Johana Ng’eno

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I would also like to support the Petitions, and more so the one on expenditure of public funds that have not been appropriated by this House.

Hon. Speaker, there is a trend of outgoing regimes, at both national and county government levels spending public funds in a very reckless way. This malpractice has to come to a stop. Through this Petition, we should address this matter comprehensively. This malpractice is not limited to reckless expenditure of public funds. Even irregular employment of people soars as the terms of sitting county and national governments approach the tail-end. This habit must be stopped with immediate effect.

Hon. Speaker, I am in support of the removal of the said IEBC commissioners from office but most importantly, as part of contemplation as we look into this matter, I hope the question of recruiting IEBC commissioners with involvement of political parties should be addressed. We go to churches. We do not elect bishops and pastors but we keep on going to those churches for prayers. Why do we involve ourselves in the appointment of IEBC commissioners? We need to have a commission that is non-partisan, one that has nothing to do with politics, political parties or contestants of political seats so that it can conduct elections in a very fair way.

Hon. Speaker that is my submission.

Hon. Silvanus Osoro.

Thank you Hon. Speaker…

On a point of order, Hon. Speaker.

Yes, Hon. Millie. What is out of Order?

Thank you, Hon. Speaker for indulging me. I apologise for raising the point of order at this point in time because a Committee

of this House will be sitting for vetting. I actually have to leave. We have just been served with a Supplementary Order Paper. My concern is that I do not see Suba North Constituency in the list of nominees to the various National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) committees that is to be approved by this House. I know it is coming. That is why I am requesting that you indulge me now – because I have to leave – so that when it does come, you kindly consider it, Hon. Speaker. We have multiple roles. I am currently playing a role within the Departmental

Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations but I cannot fail to play my role as the

Hon. Millie, Hon. Mbadi is here. He will adequately represent you.

I had the Floor, Hon. Speaker.

Yes, Hon. Osoro.

Hon. Speaker, I equally rise to support the Petitions. This is a House of rules. It is within the rights of every citizen to petition this House on any matter that arises, and that right is not limited even if a matter touches on politicians. Any public member can petition this House on anything.

Hon. Speaker, we need to re-look at the whole issue of public expenditures in terms of abuse of Article 223 of the Constitution, because as my colleagues have just said, it has become the norm that public actors in outgoing regimes create ways of making money for themselves. They draft a system of withdrawing money from public coffers without checks and balances. This is not limited to the national Government. It also happens with the county governments. Eventually, this malpractice affects the common mwananchi. We must, therefore, re-look at this law.

Nobody should view this Petition from a political inclination point of view because it is a matter of public interest brought to the House by an individual citizen of this country. We must support every petitioner and give them fair hearing so that we get to the bottom of a matter raised.

I support the Petitions.

Let us hear Hon. Kalasinga Majimbo.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity.

First, I want to comment on the Petition of Stephen Mutoro. Looking at the amount of money that was withdrawn during the time we were on recess sine die, we can now judge and know where that money was spent. We want the Committee and the Auditor General to do a clear report to us showing where and on what projects the money was spent. This needs to serve as a lesson so that even during electioneering period, custodians of public coffers can be responsible.

Hon. Speaker, on the second Petition that talks about the IEBC Commissioners, you can now see why some people were rushing to declare some people presidential candidates. They knew how they had misused Ksh55 billion. That is why I support that we must not have a handshake in this Government because these are proceeds of the handshake.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Members, we now go to the next Petition by Hon. Said Buya from Galole.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to present Petition No.003 of 2022 regarding de-gazettement of Hola Irrigation Scheme land to allow for expansion of the headquarters of Tana River County.

I, the undersigned, on behalf of the residents of Galole, Tana River County, draw the attention of the House to the following:

THAT, Hola Irrigation Scheme in Tana River County was gazetted on 26th April 1963 and covers an area of approximately 12,630 acres;

THAT, the Scheme was initially used as a settlement scheme to settle thousands of Mau- Mau freedom fighters and residents of Tana River in general in the 1960s;

THAT, the geographical location of Hola Irrigation Scheme at the heart of Hola Town has over the years proven to be disadvantageous to area residents in view of the fact that it continues to block the much-needed expansion of Hola Town, which is the Headquarters of Tana River County;

THAT, in a bid to address this long-standing challenge, officials of the national Government and the county government of Tana River, and the National Irrigation Authority, Members of Parliament and the National Land Commission (NLC) and other stakeholders met in Hola Town on 15th July 2021 and mutually agreed to degazette 2,000 acres in the south-eastern parts of the scheme to facilitate the expansion of Hola Town;

THAT, their meeting further proposed extension of the Scheme’s northern borders by a similar acreage of 2,000 acres so as to compensate for the de-gazettement;

THAT, the proposed de-gazettement and replacement of the south-eastern segment of the Scheme will secure the expansion of Hola Town and Tana River County in general through economic, social and infrastructural development that is presently hindered by the Scheme’s current location;

THAT, efforts to have the matter resolved by the relevant authorities have not yielded any fruit; and,

THAT, the issues in respect of which this Petition is made are not pending before any court of law or other constitutional or legal body.

Therefore, your humble petitioners pray that the National Assembly, through the Public Petitions Committee—

The Petition is committed to the Public Petitions Committee. Next Order.

Whip of the Majority Party.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to lay the following Papers on the Table of the House:

The Fifth and Sixth Batches of Nominees to the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committees from the NG-CDF Board for the following constituencies:

Baringo North, Bomachoge Chache, Bomet Central, Chepalungu, Embakasi Central, Embakasi South, Kabuchai, Kajiado Central, Kigumo, Kiharu, Kikuyu, Kuria West, Lamu West, Matungu, Matungulu, Mumias West, Narok West, Nyaribari Chache, Samburu North, Samburu West, Shinyalu, Sigor, Sotik, Starehe, Turkana South, Uriri, Wajir West, Bomachoge Borabu, Bomet East, Borabu, Embakasi East, Emgwen, Fafi, Gem, Ijara, Kimilili, Kisumu East, Kitui West, Kitutu Chache; Kitutu Masaba, Lari, Luanda, Lurambi, Malindi, Mathare, Mathira, Mbooni, Nambale, North Mugirango, Ol Kalou, Saku, Samburu East; Suba North, Tetu, Thika Town, Tigania West, Ugenya, and Westlands. Revised list of Nominees from the NG-CDF Board for Lamu East, Dadaab and Kitui Central Constituencies. Report of the Auditor-General and Financial Statements of Baringo Central Constituency for the year ended 30th June 2021 and the certificate therein. Report of the Auditor-General and Financial Statements of the following constituencies for the year ended 30th June 2019 and the certificates therein: Sotik, Kacheliba, Eldama Ravine and Ndaragwa. Reports of the Auditor-General and Financial Statements of the following constituencies for the year ended 30th June 2020 and the certificates therein: Chepalungu, Chesumei, Teso North, Sirisia, Matungu and Embakasi South Report of the Auditor-General and Financial Statements of Baringo Central Constituency for the year ended 30th June 2021 and the certificate therein. Reports of the Auditor-General and Financial Statements of the following institutions for the year ended 30th June 2021 and the certificates therein:

Have you not left out some papers? My list goes up to Q. Is your list different from mine?

There was an element of review, but I can proceed as follows:

Thank you, Hon. Osoro. Next is the Co-Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Election of Members to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) .

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the House: Report of the Joint Select Committee on Election of Members to the East African Legislative Assembly.

Thank you. Next Order.

Hon. Speaker. I beg to give notice of the following Motion:

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Article 50 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community and Rule 13

(5)

of the East African Legislative Assembly Elections

Rules, this House adopts the Report of the Joint Select Committee on Election of Members to East African Legislative Assembly on its consideration of the names and nomination papers of the duly nominated candidates for election as Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 15th November

Member for Kipipiri, are you giving notice of Motion or moving a Motion? It is a notice. You do not move a notice.

I am sorry. It is Notice of Motion.

Thank you. You just end there. Under Standing Order 33, the Deputy Speaker has a Notice of Motion.

Hon. Speaker, I rise under Standing Order 33 to seek leave to move a Motion for Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent national importance regarding increase in prevalence of chemical pesticides in the country. During the 12th Parliament, I presented a petition in this House, drawing its attention to the increase in prevalence of chemical pesticides in Kenya, which pose a risk not only to human health

but also to the environment and biodiversity. The relevant Committee tabled a report on the petition. However, the resolution of this House is yet to be implemented. There is still prevalence of chemical pesticides in Kenya. These products were classified as follows:

Hon. Deputy Speaker, you have made your point. You are seeking to have a Motion for Adjournment and the points you are making will come when you move the Motion. So, you need 20 Members to stand in your support.

Hon. Members, we have enough numbers. I direct that one hour to the end of the Sitting, Hon. Deputy Speaker will be given time to move this Motion and Members will…

She was giving notice. For those who were not following like Hon. Mbadi… She is protesting the influx of harmful pesticides into our country. Some of them come from countries where they are manufactured but their use is banned there and they are dumped in Kenya. Now you are clear. So, one hour to the end of the Sitting, Hon. Deputy Speaker will move that Motion and it will be debated by the House. Next Order.

Hon. Wangari.

Hon. Speaker, I rise to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs the following Question by Private Notice:

Thank you, Hon. Wangari. Hon. Wandayi.

Hon. Speaker, even as we proceed with the Questions and Statements session, I want to bring to your attention that last week on Thursday, I raised an issue here about the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) . I was in a quiet consultation with my colleague, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah, a while back and what he told me is discomforting. So, I request you to direct that before we proceed with the rest of the Questions and Statements, we dispense with this critical and urgent matter on the Statement by Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah on the grave issue of the NG-CDF.

Thank you. Hon. Ichung’wah, I had given you time to bring a statement. Are you ready with it?

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I had, indeed, indicated to Hon. Wandayi that you had given direction and I was hoping that you will get to it. I have engaged with the Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury…

I have not given you the Floor. I just asked: are you ready with the Statement?

I am not ready with the Statement.

If you are not ready, can you do so tomorrow at 2.30 p.m.?

Hon. Speaker, I want to request for your indulgence that we do this either tomorrow or Thursday, if it is possible.

On Thursday, we have the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) elections.

I can push the Cabinet Secretary to finish because he had given a sketchy Statement that I told him I was not comfortable with.

I will give you tomorrow afternoon. Thank you. Hon. Samuel Atandi.

QPN No. 002/2022

Hon. Speaker, I rise to ask the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning the following Question by Private Notice:

The next Question is by the Member for Mwingi Central.

QPN No.003/2022

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for East African Community, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) , and Regional Development the following Question by Private Notice:

Question to be replied before the Departmental Committee on Regional Development.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Roads, Transport and Public Works the following Question:

Thank you, Hon. Member. That Question will be replied to before the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure. The next Question will go to the Member for Kabuchai, Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga. If he is not in the House, the next Question will go to the Member for Yatta, Hon. Robert Basil.

Question No.004/2022

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I rise to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Lands the following Question:

Thank you. That will be replied to before the Departmental Committee on Lands. The next Question will go to the Member for Machakos County, Hon. Joyce Kamene. If the Member is not in the House, the next Question will go to the Member for Kangema, Hon. Peter Kihungi.

Question No.006/2022

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I want to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development the following Question:

Thank you. That Question will be replied to before the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock Development. I will give a second opportunity to Hon. Charity Chepkwony. She is not in the House. Hon. Joyce Kamene, if she is in the House. Hon. Members, allow me to recognise Mukoma wa Ngugi: a poet, writer and academician, an associate professor of Literature at Cornell University, and son of renown Kenyan writer, Ngugi wa Thiong’o. He is seated in the Public Gallery. On my behalf and the House, we welcome you to observe the proceedings of the House. Before we go to the next Order, Hon. Caleb Amisi, your request for Statement had been approved by the Speaker.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , I wish to request for a Statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs regarding the deteriorating state of security in the country. Recent events unfolding in different parts of the country show that insecurity has increased. Incidents of robbery with violence, muggings, assaults and tragic loss of lives being witnessed have spread fear, panic and apprehension all over the country, especially in urban areas. Concerns have emerged on the efficiency, capacity and operations of the National Police Service in carrying out their mandate, especially that of ensuring security of citizens. Criminal activities have increased with declining performance of the national economy. People have little confidence in the effectiveness of law enforcement efforts in controlling the rampant crime. Kenyans no longer feel safe to move about freely within the Central Business District of Nairobi and other urban cities. It is expected that, with the recent appointment of the Inspector-General of Police, long standing measures will be instituted to curb the crime. It is against this background that I stand to seek a Statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs on the following:

Thank you. This Statement will go to the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee of Administration and Internal Affairs. Chairperson, I do not know how long you will need. Where is the Chairperson, the Vice Chairperson or a Member of the Committee to undertake… If there is no Member in the House, Leader of the Majority Party?

Is that Hon. Protus? Are you a Member of the Committee? Give Hon. Protus the microphone.

Yes, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I am a Member of that Committee.

What did you say?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I will respond in two weeks.

Two weeks’ time is good. That will be taken in two weeks. I will indulge Members on the next chance because I know we are also doing a lot of vetting activities in Committees. I will give a final chance on this Question to Hon. Chepkwony of Njoro.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for granting me this opportunity to ask my Question. My sincere apologies because we had vetting of our Principal Secretaries today. Allow me to ask my Question. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Lands the following Question:

Hon. Member, the Question is as approved. This Question will be replied to before the Departmental Committee on Lands.

The next Statement is by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Gladys Boss.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 179 (14) , I rise to notify the House by way of Statement the duly elected Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons of Committees following the recent elections of committees of the House. Hon. Temporary Speaker, on Thursday, 27th October 2022, the House adopted the Report of the Committee on Selection on Placement of Members to Committees of the House. Consequently, and pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 179 Committees conducted and concluded elections of Chairpersons and Vice-Chairperson upon their constitution within the seven day period as approved by the Speaker. In this regard, I wish to notify the House that all the Departmental Committees, Audit and Appropriations and other Select Committees elected leadership as follows:

No. Committee Chairperson Vice-Chairperson

No. Committee Chairperson Vice-Chairperson

Committee on Regional Integration Hon. Wanjiku Muhia

No. Committee Chairperson Vice-Chairperson

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Hon. Members, allow me to recognise the presences of Turi Secondary School students from Molo Constituency, Nakuru County, seated in the Public Gallery. On behalf of myself and the House, you are welcome to observe the proceedings of the National Assembly.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

What is out of order, Hon. Mbadi?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I appreciate the communication from Hon. Deputy Speaker who also leads the Liaison Committee. I was expecting to hear from her when the Liaison Committee will conduct induction so that we can start work. As a committee, we wanted to start our activities and were advised there is need for the Liaison Committee to first hold induction for Members who have never been chairpersons and lack experience in some of these activities. Some chairpersons are coming in for the first time in their entire lives and others are first-time Members of Parliament. When will this happen so committees can start work? Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I appreciate the question asked by Hon. John Mbadi, MP, EGH. I wish to confirm that the Liaison Committee shall be meeting tomorrow at 11.30 a.m. We will be meeting every Wednesday but our inaugural meeting will be tomorrow. Thereafter, we shall plan induction and preparations for the work ahead. Thank you.

The Members of the Liaison Committee already have administrative communication channels for their meetings which can be done after here. The next Statement will be done on behalf of Hon. Owen Baya by Hon. Paul Katana Kahindi.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. This is a request for Statement regarding disbursement of National Government Constituencies Development Fund. Pursuant to Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , I would like to request for a Statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committee regarding the disbursement of constituency development funds by the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning. Hon. Temporary Speaker, NG-CDF positively impacts the constituencies by ironing out regional imbalances to achieve rapid socio-economic development at the constituency level. Whereas the Supreme Court of Kenya pronounced its judgement on 8th August 2022 declaring the Constituencies Development Fund Act of 2013 as unconstitutional, it is imperative to note that the pronouncement does not affect the NG-CDF Act of 2015. The National Treasury is yet to disburse funds as approved by the NG-CDF Board for bursaries allocation and development of the constituencies as mandated in the NG-CDF Act of 2015. In this regard, the National Treasury should note that NG-CDF Act of 2015 remains in force. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is against this background that I seek a Statement from the Chairperson of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committee on the following:

Thank you, Hon. Member. This Statement will go to the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committee. The Chairperson, Hon. Musa Sirma how long will you take?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I think some of the issues raised by the Member will be answered by the Leader of the Majority Party as per the direction of the Speaker. We will deal with other issues possibly in the next one week.

Order, Hon. Member! You are the Chairperson, National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committee and this Statement is properly on the Floor. How long will you require to answer it?

Just one week.

One week is the commitment from the Chairperson. Next Order!

The Leader of the Majority Party.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion:

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 30 (3) (b) , this House resolves to hold a Morning Sitting on Thursday, 17th November 2022 commencing at

Motion to have a morning sitting when Hon. Junet is fresh. We will not begin very early but at

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I second.

Order Members! I will propose.

Put the Question.

Is this the mood of the House that I put the Question?

Yes.

Next Order.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I rise to move the

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Section 43(4) of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Act, 2015 and paragraphs 5(2) and (10) of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Regulations, 2016, this House approves the list of nominees for appointment to the following 124 Constituency Committees of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund, laid on the Table of the House on Thursday, 10th November 2022. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish to confirm that we have received a list of nominees from 124 constituencies and we will be tabling others later tomorrow. So, I urge Hon. Members who have not submitted to do so.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Tindi Mwale, what is out of order?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise on a point of order because the Chairperson has indicated that we have Members who have not submitted these lists. We have Members who have submitted but theirs have not been tabled. Which criteria are you using to bring the names? Do we have batches of names or are we going short of printing papers? Why is it that some old and great constituencies like Butere have not been tabled?

Order, Hon. Mwale! Order Member. The Chairperson will continue to move the Motion. We will have the chance to debate the Motion. Those who have issues will raise their issues as they come. So please go on.

I am moving this Motion based on the 124 names because the other 131 names are still in the process and will be laid on the Floor of the House tomorrow. I want to assure…

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

What is out of order Dr. Pukose?

You know Hon. Sirma has partially moved the Motion as per our Standing Orders. Once he moved to the last sentence ‘as laid on the Table” and read out the date, these are the constituencies that have been listed. If he wanted to shorten it, he should have said as per the Order Paper. He has now started to debate the constituencies and talks of other constituencies which have not been put on the Order Paper. It is unprocedural. He has to make it very clear.

Thank you, Dr. Pukose. Hon. Chairperson, Hon. Musa Sirma, please move the Motion as it is on the Order Paper and quote the 124 constituencies that are on the Order Paper.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I have already mentioned that I am talking about the 124 which have been laid. In fact, today the Leader of the Majority Party has already tabled 70…

Order. Hon. Chairperson, please just listen to us. Move the Motion as it is. So, do not tell as about the 70, the 124.

I have already moved the Motion. They have other issues they are looking for. Let me repeat so that they can listen. If you were not listening, listen now. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to move:

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Section 43 (4) of the National Government Constituency Development Fund Act, 2015 and paragraphs 5 (2) and

Please continue, now it is in order.

What I would like to urge Members is to hasten the process through their Fund Managers and the relevant committees in their constituencies to bring the names from their constituencies to allow us to move faster together. I know there are Members who have submitted but their names have not been part of the 124. By the end of tomorrow, they will be happy because everything will be done. I ask the House to approve the list of the nominees from the 124 constituencies for appointment and gazettement by the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) committee members in the respective constituencies. I also request Hon. Ochanda, the Member of Parliament for Bondo who is a Member of my Committee to second.

Hon. Ochanda.

Okay. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. As I rise to second this Motion, let me make a few things straight.

We are having these names in batches because they were submitted to the Board at different times. The first that have been cleared by the Board so far are 124. When names are submitted from constituencies there are criteria that are used. If you do not follow those criteria, chances are that there will be back and forth between your Fund Manager and the Board. For example, if you do not nominate a disabled person in the committee, you delay a constituency.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Tindi Mwale, what is out of order?

Is the Member supposed to second then debate? He has started by debating and defending before seconding. It is unprocedural.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, you may want to give guidance because I am going to second at the end of it. I will say ‘I Second.’

He is making his comments but he will still second at the end.

My first statement was, “Before I second, there are these things that I want to make clear, and then I will second in the end.”

What I am trying to make clear is what the Chairperson talked about. Members need to hasten the process because the NG-CDF Board here in Nairobi gets names based on how they are sent from the constituencies. This will not only happen for this alone but also for many other things, including the speed at which you submit and implement your projects. We are asking about arrears right now. These are issues that are now with the Board based on some reasons that certain constituencies did not do certain things as required on time.

There is a question that has been asked by a Member. The Leader of the Minority Party is asking where the money is. It cannot be there until these names are gazetted. We have started the gazettement process. So, the names of the members of the Constituencies Development Fund Committees of the 124 constituencies will be gazetted. This may be done ahead of the others.

Hon. Temporary Speaker….

Hon. Junet, Order! I am looking at the cards here but I do not see you. Please, the microphone is still with Hon. Ochanda.

Thank you very much. Kiongozi, give me a

moment to make this point clear for Members to understand, so that we reduce the interruptions. At the moment, we are in the process of gazetting our Constituencies Development Fund Committee members. It is one of the preconditions that we must have. When the committees are in place, you will get money. So, to hasten this process, there are names from 124 constituencies that are before us now. There are names from 70 constituencies that are already tabled. They will be there tomorrow. We have a balance of 96 constituencies. So, Members of Parliament...

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Members, if you have an intervention, please put your card in the machine. Hon. Tindi Mwale, what is out of order?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, is it in order for the Member to purport to speak on behalf of the NG-CDF Board? He is supposed to second the Motion but not tell us how the money will come or why it has not come. Is it in order for him to do that?

Hon. Ochanda, please second the Motion. Do not be distracted by the noise from the House.

Thank you very much. What I am saying is very useful, particularly to the new Members. I want to respond to what Hon. Tindi has raised. There is no single day that the members of the Board will be here to talk for themselves. That is not the order. It does not happen.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Junet, what is out of order?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I have listened to the seconder who is a very learned man, Hon. (Dr) Ochanda. He is talking like he is the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury.

Order, Hon. Junet! This Motion will be seconded and then it will be opened for debate, so that Members can ventilate and raise issues like you. Hon. Ochanda, please second the Motion.

Okay. That is fine. Some of the leaders are trying to mislead the House so, be a little bit cautious because that is not the direction.

Second and sit down!

I am supposed to make many statements within the time that I am allowed to have, when seconding the Motion. You cannot force me to say that I second the Motion and then sit down. That is not the procedure.

Hon. Ochanda, you have four minutes.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I second the Motion. As I do it, I am still insisting that we, as a Committee, are getting these names in batches. Any

time we get them, we will bring them on the Floor of the House. As at today, there are 124 constituencies which have submitted their names of Constituencies Development Fund Committees. There will be 70 constituencies tomorrow. After that, I believe that there will be 96 more. Immediately that happens, we will have names of the entire 290 constituencies. Once these names are gazetted, we will have a clear reason of insisting that we get the money. The onus is with the Chairperson and Committee, particularly on the question that is being raised on when we would get the money. The Chairperson said that we do not want to give these guys a space to tell us that we have not approved the Committees. Can we go ahead and clearly approve the Committees and insist on the constituencies that have not brought theirs to do so as soon as possible?

Thank you,

Have you seconded the Motion?

I second the third time.

Thank you, Hon. Ochanda.

The first chance to address this issue will go to Hon. Julius ole Sunkuli, Member for Kilgoris.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish to support this Motion. The names that have been presented have been thoroughly looked at by the selecting authorities. We hope that this will now clear the way. There are two stories that seem to be here. I listened carefully to my friend, the Chairperson of the Committee, and his seconder. Indeed, there is a need for this procedure to go through. We need these Committees in order for us to begin the exercise of actualising the operations of NG-CDF.

I also listened to the worrying undertones from the Whip of the Minority Party, Hon. Junet, as to whether this step will end here or in provision of the funds. It will be very important to listen to what the Leader of the Majority Party will tell us tomorrow. The people on the ground have done their part. They have selected members of the Committees. I realised that when these positions were advertised, the bar was rather high during this particular time. Sometime in the past, the members of the Constituency Development Fund Committees were not required to have such rigorous requirements like the ones I saw in the ones we will approve today. Therefore, we hope that the Government of the day will make sure that these Committees that have been selected very well will actually have a job to do. I kept on hearing new terminologies today like “the former regime”. For me, the Government has always been the same. The people who have been running the Government have been doing so for 10 years. We hope that they will continue doing it in good faith. Kenyans are waiting for the NG-CDF.

I left Parliament about 20 years ago. I am grateful to the people of Kilgoris for bringing me back. When I was here previously, the NG-CDF did not exist. We performed even though there was no NG-CDF. The amount of work that we were able to do compared to what my successors later did was quite small. The NG-CDF has really made a difference. Even though it currently has many enemies, the Fund has actually helped Kenyans.

I am always very surprised to see those who went to court to oppose the NG-CDF saying that it is a noble fund. Nobody is arguing against its nobility. Therefore, if it is a noble and useful

fund, how can the laws of Kenya find it to be unconstitutional? How can it be unconstitutional if Kenyans want it? As the Constitution states, all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya. The Constitution of Kenya, 2010, created this fund by allowing Members of Parliament to pass the necessary laws to effect it. I find it to be in bad faith for anybody who has seen the good work of the NG-CDF to say that it is unconstitutional.

I urge Members, particularly those who are in Government, to ensure that the National Treasury disburses funds after we gazette the NG-CDF committees. Do not take us round in circles saying that there is a missing full-stop or comma. The gazettement of the committees should be sufficient for us to receive our funds. We also look forward to seeing the Auditor-General’s reports so that we ensure that the funds are always used well. Going forward, we will oversee the use of the NG-CDF so that it can give our people value for money.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support the Motion.

Thank you. Let us now have the Whip of the Minority Party.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I stand to support the Motion, but with a very heavy heart.

As a House, we should not be doing an exercise in futility. You can see very well that there is a very serious conspiracy against the NG-CDF, especially by the Executive and now the Judiciary. This Fund has transformed people’s lives in this country. I was in my constituency over the weekend where children do not have school fees. Schools are sending them back home. Where do you want them to go? The Government is not giving them money to go to school. There are no bursaries. The counties through which we are being told these funds should be channelled are not giving bursaries to the children. Their only source of school fees was the NG-CDF.

In the list of NG-CDF committees tabled by the Chairman of the Select Committee on the NG-CDF, Hon. Sirma, there is no single Member of Parliament. You did not hear that Hon. Junet Mohamed is a member of the Suna East Constituency Development Fund Committee. I expected him to say that. He was reading the names of ordinary Kenyans, ordinary people, who are residents of those constituencies. They have come together and elected members of those committees so that they can administer the funds that come to them from the national Government for the benefit of the societies living in those constituencies.

I am really worried. The next step is to gazette these names. Parliament will send the names for gazettement. In a day or two, the gazette notice will come out. These committees are expected to work to administer the NG-CDF. If there is no money, what is the point of gazetting them? What are they going to do? They do not even have money to hold a first meeting or buy water so that they can hold meetings. If this is not frustrating the work of the committees or the benefits to the people of this country, how else can you describe it?

I am told that there is a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the NG-CDF to be illegal or unconstitutional. We are currently discussing the 2022/2023 Financial Year. We can discuss those illegalities and how to rectify them constitutionally in the next financial year because we are the law-making body in this country. No other organ can make laws or do anything about it in this country.

Why are the funds that have accrued, the balances that remained, or the money for this financial year, not being disbursed to the constituencies whose committees have been gazetted? Hon. Pukose is one of the most effective Members of Parliament in this House. I am sure his committee was gazetted a long time ago. Why can money not go to Endebess Constituency as we continue to debate and approve the remaining NG-CDF constituency committees?

As far as I am concerned, the only money that comes from the national Government that I am sure is beneficial to Kenyans is the NG-CDF. You can say anything you want. People like abusing Members of Parliament and tarnishing their names. You will never see a Member of Parliament sitting on an NG-CDF committee discussing the NG-CDF. However, you will see many people in all constituencies who have benefitted from the NG-CDF, either in terms of bursaries, construction of schools, classrooms, dining halls, and roads leading to schools. There are all kinds of things.

It is my humble request that monies be disbursed so that these committees can start working as soon as yesterday. People are really suffering. Nowadays when you watch the news, you see counties lamenting that they have not received funding from the national Government. This Fund has the lowest administrative costs in this country. Over 90 per cent of monies disbursed through this Fund reach the people of Kenya directly. It touches the lives of people of this country.

I am saying this because I do not want Parliament to be seen to be engaging in an exercise that will not bear fruit. Once we pass this Motion and these committees are gazetted, money must follow. Monies must go down to the constituencies so that these committees can function, children can go back to school, schools can get…. Currently, there is a big problem in this country, that is, the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). Children are moving from junior to senior schools. We were educated under the 8-4-4 Sytem of Education, so I do not know what grades these are. There are no classrooms. Those children are supposed to attend classes in their primary schools. They are not going to those boarding secondary schools where all of us went. They are supposed to graduate from Junior to Senior School in their own primary schools. They do not have classrooms to go to. The only fund that could provide classrooms for them is the NG-CDF. If you do not disburse the NG-CDF, where will you get classrooms from? Do you want these senior school children to be taught under trees in the whole Republic? People will realise that the work that the NG-CDF is doing is much more than the amount of money that is disbursed by the Government.

In conclusion, I urge the House to stand firm. We will be going on recess in two weeks. We will interact with our constituents for almost two-and-a-half months. Those people require services, attention, and help for their children to go back to school.

I, therefore, urge this House that within this month, constituencies whose committees have been gazetted must be funded without any further delay.

With those few remarks I support.

Thank you, Minority Whip. Member for Molo, Hon. Kuria Kimani.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker for this opportunity. First of all, I am happy that this list has been tabled today. Molo Constituency is among the first constituencies that we are going to approve its NG-CDF Committee nominees, and this will lead to their gazettement.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, a few minutes ago, you acknowledged the presence of students from Turi Secondary School. They came here on a school bus that was purchased using money from the NG-CDF during the last financial year. Considering the humble background the students come from, ordinarily they would never have afforded a trip to Parliament or a career visit to Kenyatta University like they did earlier today. That, therefore, demonstrates how important this Fund is and how it directly touches on the lives of our constituents.

As the other Hon. Members have said, it is becoming difficult to engage our constituents because everyone is asking: “Mheshimiwa, when are we getting bursaries?” Our response is that we are not even sure when it is going to be disbursed. As the Chairperson of the Departmental

Committee on Finance and National Planning, I can say there is light at the end of the tunnel. The

Thank you, Hon. Member. The next chance will go to the Member for Rangwe, Hon. Lilian Gogo.

Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Thank you for the good work you are doing at the bench as you navigate us through building our nation.

Concerning the matter on the Floor of the House, it has been well said by Members who have spoken before me. I only want to bring to the attention of the Chairperson, Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, the Member for Molo, who is my friend that it is important for him not to talk about wanting to fast-track this matter. This should have been done earlier because it is a matter that was raised both last week and the previous week. In three weeks’ time, we are still talking about fast-tracking. We honestly need this NG-CDF matter expedited and money disbursed. We are in a situation whereby this money ought to already be in the constituencies. The NG-CDF is money that the Government disburses and is felt by the common mwananchi. We have a problem with unemployment in this country. When this money is at the

constituency level, it gives employment opportunities to our youth because they get engaged in construction of structures, roads, and more. The NG-CDF is disbursed to every constituency. I like the idea that if there is a constituency that has more than four wards, more funds would be allocated to it.

I rise to support what is on the Floor of the House and at the same time insist that we should not be a House that keeps talking only. We talk and even threaten that we are going to stop business of the House, but at the same time, we go round in circles when we are representing our people. The NG-CDF touches the lives of poor Kenyans. Through the NG-CDF, schools in my Rangwe Constituency now have buses. Many schools cannot raise funds and have students go for scientific tours, music festivals, and drama festivals. Money from the NG-CDF is not for matters school only, but it is also meant for administrative work. When we look at the national Government administration offices, our chiefs do not have offices. I do not know if the concerned department sends money, but chiefs and assistant chiefs work from dilapidated offices yet they are Government officers. From where I stand, a lot of their premises are constructed using the NG- CDF.

Rangwe Constituency, for instance, has never had an office, but we now have an ultra- modern sub-county headquarters courtesy of the NG-CDF. This is something that nobody is going to take away from us for the reason that we are defending the people we represent. They have delegated authority to us to come and represent them here. It is on this basis that I insist that this money should be disbursed as soon as possible.

We need to do proposals and work has to be done. The issue of bursary has also been raised. I represent a constituency of the rural poor and if it were not for the NG-CDF bursary, very many children would not be going to school. They would have dropped out. We need this money. January is almost here and we need to undertake vetting so that rightful students who qualify get the NG- CDF bursary. I support. I want to ask the Chair of the NG-CDF, who is also my friend and brother, to go out of his way to ensure that this money hits the accounts of the various constituencies so that work can be done. We want to be a working nation. We want to see a difference. We want to be seen to be of concern and value to the people who elected us. I want to quote the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Justin Muturi, who is now the Attorney- General, who said: “It is very difficult to find somebody behind this door being called an honourable Member of the National Assembly”. The single most reason we come here is for our people. All energy and any matter touching on our people should be our single most and serious agenda in this House. I want to state without fear of contradiction that we need to work on the matter of the NG-CDF with the speed it deserves. The money should be disbursed to the various accounts of the constituencies, so that we can work in support of the current Government that wants to deliver to the people of Kenya.

Thank you, Hon. Gogo. The next chance will go to the Member for Bomet East, Hon. Richard Yegon.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I want to contribute to the issue of the NG-CDF. Reading the mood of the House, I want to say that our constituents are really waiting. Over the weekend, I was at home and everybody is asking about the NG-CDF. We want the funds to be released as soon as possible. As I said earlier, no one in this august House will come back if we are not given the NG-CDF. People are used to this very noble Fund, which is being managed and supervised by the Members of Parliament. We are in total support of it. I was just wondering why the National Treasury is not releasing the funds yet we have the NG-CDF Board.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Member for Kesses, what is out of order?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. The Member who is on the Floor has stated that it is the Members of Parliament who supervise the NG-CDF. This is a House of records and I wish to state that we do not participate. Rather, we provide oversight. What he has just said is what has gone on record and, therefore, we are being misunderstood. Maybe, that is why we have this stumbling block. The Member should correct that because he is on record.

Thank you very much my colleague for correcting me. I stand guided. Asante sana. That is the position.

As I was saying, we have the NG-CDF managers who are all over the constituencies. If this Fund is not effected, why are they still in office? Let them disband the Fund if they are not going to give us the money. Our people are used to the Fund and we want to make them happy. We want to do what is required of us by making sure that the cheques reach all these needy people. Many people need these funds. I support this Motion of entrenching the NG-CDF into our Constitution.

Thank you, Hon. Member. I will now give this chance to the Member for Kwanza, Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. From the outset, I want to take this opportunity to approve the list that has been brought to this House. It is quite in order. I do not think I have anything else to add because I do not know those members. It is only the Members of Parliament who have submitted the lists who know them. Therefore, I think as most Members have said, the NG-CDF is not meant for Members of Parliament. As we all know, the NG-CDF is for the public. Everybody is crying. They are begging that the NG-CDF should be released because students are at home. In fact, most students will not do well in the ongoing examinations because most of them are just sitting at home. Those setting the examinations are here in Nairobi and are not aware of the happenings in the villages. The children are not concentrating.

I want to take this opportunity to ask the Ministry of Education to instruct principals of various schools not to send children home. They are all aware of the current situation. When I went home, more than 30 parents came to my residence to ask me what they should do with their children. They want me to pay their school fees. Some of them have fee balances while others have completed school, but are unable to get their certificates. We want to take this opportunity to state that as it is, we are having a tussle with the busybodies out there. Most of the fellows that are talking about the NG-CDF do not know anything about it. Therefore, we also want to take this opportunity to tell the principals not to send students home. Most people including myself, have what we call commitments. School principals should treat commitments as a way of parents saying that they will pay school fees for their children. The busybodies out there are even suggesting that the NG-CDF should be devolved to the counties. That will be a disaster for this country. Why do you devolve the NG-CDF to counties and yet most of them have not performed well? It will be a disaster in this country. Therefore, I want to suggest here that since the Leader of the Majority Party has committed himself, we should give him some time, so that, hopefully, by tomorrow, we can get some good news from him. If that does not happen, then we should go ahead and do what we are doing. Members have suggested that we should have a go-slow so as to force the Government to direct National Treasury to release the money.

The NG-CDF is not for Members of Parliament. They are just part and parcel of the suffering Kenyans. I am sure everyone agrees that the NG-CDF has done a lot of work in this country in terms of infrastructure in colleges and administrative units. Because of lack of land, we are building classrooms in form of storey buildings. We are not able to expand land which is getting smaller. I want to take this opportunity to tell the busybodies running around saying that the NG- CDF should be banned because it is for the Members of Parliament, that we only provide oversight.

They go around saying that the NG-CDF should be banned because it is for Members of Parliament. We only oversee whatever has been done by the committees in various constituencies. We oversee while they come up with Bill of Quantities (BQs) to determine how much various projects will cost. Thereafter, we look at them and give ago ahead. We do not take part in disbursement of the NG-CDF because it is for the people and paid by the people. We are tired of this and, therefore, whoever is in charge needs to disburse the funds so that we can move to other businesses.

With those few remarks, I support the Motion and look forward to getting good news tomorrow when the Leader of the Majority Party comes to this House.

I support.

Let us have the Member for Kilifi South, Hon Chonga.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

On a point of order

What is out of order, Hon. Kuria Kimani?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I am rising on a point of order to bring to your attention Standing Order 95. This debate is on the approval of names of members of the NG-CDF committees in 180 constituencies and we have 90 others to debate. Because this is not on the subject of the NG-CDF, keeping in mind that we have an important

Motion on the approval of the East African Legislative Assembly Members after this, I implore

That is well noted, but I will give Hon. Ken Chonga an opportunity to finish. After you finish, we will put the Question on the issue raised by Hon. Kuria Kimani.

Thank you again. I have taken note of what the Member has just said, but I also want to remind you about a Motion to discuss how we are going to realign the NG-CDF with the Constitution, so that it does not fall into the same debacle. It was a Motion that many Members wanted to contribute to. I am one of the most unlucky people who unsuccessfully tried to contribute to the Motion. If I am allowed, I will take only one minute, but first of all, I would like to make a clarification.

Hon. Member, you already have the Floor. You have eight minutes to finish. If you can finish earlier, that will be better.

Thank you. I will only take five minutes. First of all, I would like to make a clarification on this Motion that was brought to the Floor of the House today. I heard the Mover of the Motion mentioning 124 constituencies which have submitted names of the members who are supposed to be approved and gazzetted. The clarification that I am seeking and I would like it to go on record is that the names that have been submitted for Kilifi South Constituency as per the Supplementary Order Paper that is before us are different from the names that were submitted by the Fund Manager of Kilifi South. I wish to seek an amendment to

that list. We submitted our list earlier, which the NG-CDF Board already has. We require them to match what is submitted and disregard what is here.

Secondly, the issue of the NG-CDF has been debated by many Members in this House on how relevant it has been to our people. I would like to bring to the attention of this House that at its inception, the CDF must have had a historical background. There must have been reasons why the then sitting Members felt it was important to introduce the CDF. Some of us may not have been beneficiaries of bursaries during our time, but we witnessed the misery that fellow Kenyans who came from poor families were experiencing. I was taken by surprise when I heard the former Cabinet Secretary, Ukur Yatani, arrogantly saying that he is not going to disburse the NG-CDF funds under any circumstances. Honestly, we have been there and we are the custodians of the people on matters education and security. We have people who cannot afford a meal let alone school fees. It is like telling someone you will take them to the moon without knowing how they will get there. The NG-CDF has played a very vital role. Many families are where they are today because of the NG-CDF.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I run a foundation called Ken Chonga Foundation and it is purely educating young boys and girls who come from the most underprivileged families. Even after giving them a bursary, they may still be unable to continue with their studies. Therefore, it does not take anyone to go to school to understand what is going on in the villages. To be very honest, if I was given an opportunity, I would recommend psychiatric evaluation on those who ruled the NG-CDF illegal and unconstitutional. What is going on in our constituencies is real. We are not fighting for the NG-CDF for our own benefit, but for posterity.

Indeed, today, many children are not in school. We have used our salaries and if the bursary we are disbursing is not enough, how can our salaries be sufficient in terms of taking care of the underprivileged children who are out there? Something needs to be done urgently. Members of Parliament are not going to be Members forever. A time will come when they will have to give way, either by age, being unpopular, or by death. But we are the custodians of our future generations. I would like to request for timely amendment of the names presented from my constituency and any other that has been similarly affected. I would also like the relevant bodies to move fast to disburse the funds to make sure the lives of the poor boys and girls out there do not get jeopardised because of people who do not understand the importance of the funds.

I will now put the Question as proposed by Hon. Kuria Kimani that the Mover be now called to reply.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I would like to thank all the Members who have contributed to this Motion. I take particular interest in the concerns raised by Members, especially on the bursary which is coming up very soon. Members will be on recess for almost two months and they need to work with their constituents on how they are going to improve their lives.

I would also like to thank a Member for a correction he made that this is not a committee of Members of Parliament. These are people who are elected from the constituency. The busybodies who have always fought the NG-CDF may get an opportunity to spread wrong information when we give a wrong statement here that board members have been selected by the Members of Parliament. I also tell Members that these issues will come to rest very soon because

those who have not seen their names in the list of 124 constituencies, in the next few days, we should have all the names of the members elected into the various committees.

I urge Hon. Chonga of Kilifi and every other Member who sees any mistake in the list submitted by Fund Managers to write directly to the CEO of the NG-CDF, so that those names are amended accordingly. We do not want to have two lists, namely, one owned by the Fund Manager and another owned by the NG-CDF national office, which is here. This is a matter which can never be left to busybodies to dictate how Kenyans are going to be poor. I do not know if one can imagine us still doing harambees. I came to this House at a time when we were still doing harambees for schools, and there was no NG-CDF.

I thank our colleague, who is no longer in this House, Hon. Eng. Karue, for doing the good job of introducing the CDF. What we want is the NG-CDF to be entrenched in the Constitution of Kenya as per the Bill which is going on in this House. I ask everybody in this House to support it. We will take it for public participation, so that we can defeat those who would like to make Kenyans poor. Anybody opposing the NG-CDF is a sadist who would like to have this country in a bad state where children from poor families do not go to school.

With those remarks, I move that we approve the list as appended.

You beg to reply? Hon. Musa Sirma

: Yes, I beg to reply. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Members, under Standing Order 53 (3) , and for obvious reasons, I defer putting of the Question to another time.

The next Order is by the Co-Chairperson of the Joint Select Committee on the Election of Members to the East African Legislative Assembly. Hon. Wanjiku Muhia, proceed.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I beg to move the following Motion:

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Article 50 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community and Rule 13

(5)

of the East African Legislative Assembly Elections

Rules, this House adopts the Report of the Joint Select Committee on the Election of Members to the East African Legislative Assembly on its consideration of the names and nomination papers of the duly nominated candidates for election as Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 15th November 2022. The EALA is an independent legislative arm of the East African Community established under Article 9 and has a membership of nine members from each partner State. Article 50 of the Treaty requires that EALA Members be elected by each partner State 90 days before the expiry of the term of the existing Parliament. Article 49 of EAC Treaty establishes that EALA, like many other parliaments, has three roles, namely, legislation, oversight and representation.

The fourth EALA is coming to an end on 17th December 2022. It is from this background that the Senate and the National Assembly established a Joint Committee of seven Members from each House to deliberate and make a roadmap following the rules, regulations and the treaty as well as oversee the whole process of election of Members of EALA. With that, the membership from this House was co-chaired by myself and Hon. Daniel Kitonga Maanzo, EBS, from the Senate.

On 25th October 2022, this Joint Committee sat down to make the said roadmap and stipulated how the process would go on according to the rules of the EALA Act, the Treaty and our Constitution, considering that this election is also based on the constitution of each partner State. Therefore, the presiding officers, who are the Clerks of both Houses, namely, the National Assembly and the Senate, placed Gazette Notice No.130301, dated 26th October 2022, to advertise, so that interested candidates from the whole Republic of Kenya would make applications. This advertisement was closed by 5.00 p.m. on 2nd November 2022. A total of 348 applicants had submitted their applications. Reconciliation was done out of this. Some candidates applied as much as four times through emails to the Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the National Assembly. Others made wrong applications. One candidate sought to be a driver in the EALA. As such, our Clerks did reconciliations and remained with a total of 287 applicants.

As per the rules, the nomination date was 9th November 2022. The nomination date means that party leaders from both coalitions and independent candidates provide names and applications of their candidates of choice. This happened on this day. Two days are given to the public to scrutinise nominees, bring any memoranda, lodge any complaint at the place provided in the Gazette Notice, at County Hall. This happened on 10th and 11th November 2022. On 11th November 2022, the presiding officers forwarded the documents to the Joint Select Committee. This included complaints lodged by members of the public.

The process allowed as many independent candidates as possible because, in our Constitution, every person is eligible for any election. A total of 42 independent candidates were shortlisted, but out of that, only one candidate by the name Duncan Wachira Ndegwa qualified in terms of the documents required. In that regard and as this House knows, only the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties can identify if a candidate really qualifies to be an independent. The presiding officers forwarded the names and documents of these independent candidates to the IEBC. The IEBC confirmed through a letter that this candidate also fell short of the threshold as per the Election Act. Not all of his 1,000 signatures were accurate, as far as the IEBC is concerned.

Party nominees faced the same test as independent candidates. The process was fair to all. The IEBC confirmed them as being validly registered as voters and we have recommended that they be considered for election. The Members nominated are as follows:

The Kenya Kwanza Alliance had five slots. The rules required that the five slots be multiplied by three, totaling 15 candidates. This is to give voters from both Houses a choice to make in the election. The 15 candidates nominated and provided by the party leaders of Kenya Kwanza Alliance to the Joint Select Committee through presiding officers are as follows:

Hon. Daniel Nanok.

Thank you Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me the opportunity to second this Motion. It is a great privilege to have been accorded the opportunity to sit in this Committee in order to look at the election processes that are put in place to identify people who will represent Kenya in EALA. We request the House to adopt this Report on the basis that this is a Committee of the House. We have been out there working for the House and we have prepared a Report. Basically, the Report we are presenting to the House is for guiding the election of persons to EALA. It is good to remember that in the last 4th Assembly, Kenya, as a partner state of the EAC, delayed in presenting the names of its nine nominees to EALA. This occasioned a delay of six months to EALA's calendar. So, this time round, the Parliament of Kenya has gone ahead to try and fit in the EALA programme, so that the Assembly is not delayed again. This is the reason for having in place strict timelines for the election of persons to EALA. As a Committee, we tried to abide by that. As you have heard the Co-Chair say, we started on 25th October 2022 and by 12th November 2022, we were almost done with the guiding process of elections. Today, we have presented to the House names of nominees to be considered for election as Members of EALA from Kenya. As we have been advised by the Speaker, this election will be conducted on Thursday, this week. In the calendar of elections, the Members names will be transmitted to EALA on 18th

November 2022. The names of those elected on Thursday, 17th November will be sent to Arusha on 18th November in order to be enjoined with the others. We were informed that the rest of the partner states have already nominated their Members. So, the 5th Assembly will take-off within the required time. The process of nomination and advertisement of positions to the public to apply followed very strict timelines. Looking at the advertisement, members of the public had only seven days to apply. The advertisement was placed on 26th October and up to 2nd November, the calendar ran without gaps in-between. Nominees placed their applications by 2nd November and the vetting process was undertaken within one week. Parties were called upon to scrutinise names of persons who had applied. As the Co-Chair has said, a total of 348 applicants put in their applications. Most of them were party candidates, but a good number of them - I think 69 - were independent candidates. It was unfortunate that some of the applicants, particularly the independent ones, were unable to meet the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission threshold for independent candidates as required by the law of this country. That is how we ended up not having a single independent candidate being presented to the House. We ended up with a ballot paper which had two sets of names of the coalitions represented in the House. There were 15 persons from the Kenya Kwanza Coalition and 12 from the Azimio la Umoja-One Coalition. Members of the House will have the opportunity to elect five out of the 15 from the Kenya Kwanza Coalition and four out of the 12 from the Azimio la Umoja Coalition. This will give us nine Members to represent Kenya in EALA. Hon. Temporary Speaker, as a Joint Committee of Parliament, we had the opportunity to interact with the rules that govern election of Members to EALA. The Co-Chair has already presented to the House some of the observations made by the Committee. In future, it would be important if the Joint Committee would be given a more prominent role, particularly on the question of looking at the nominees’ list from the outset, so that they can appreciate what the members of the public who apply go through. In this case, those who were tasked to be presiding officers were the Clerks of the two Houses. It is important to give a formal campaign period to the persons seeking to be elected. Otherwise, without interacting with them, it might be difficult for Members to elect some of them. Going forward, this platform needs to be reconsidered so that Members of Parliament can elect from a point of knowledge. Hon. Temporary Speaker, with those many remarks, I second. The Report is before the House and we await voting on Thursday.

Hon Members, I will now propose the Question.

I will give this chance to the Member for Bureti, Hon. Kibet Komingoi. He is not in the House. I will give the chance to Hon. Johana Ng’eno, Member for Emurua Dikirr

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for allowing me an opportunity to weigh in on this Motion on selection of Members to EALA. I wish to support the Committee. I will still stick to the very issue I raised when we were appointing Members to the Committee to look into this matter that it is time we did a legislation.

[The Temporary Speaker

left the Chair] [The Temporary Speaker (Hon. Peter Kaluma) took the Chair] I ask the Chairperson to look into the regulations and rules that create the East African Legislative Assembly. I ask the Member to look into those particular rules so that we can amend that section of the Treaty that EALA is a creation of. We have EALA and the East African Court of Justice. The membership of those two institutions is from different member states, which means they are higher than or superior to the bodies that we have back home. Madam Speaker, the East African Court of Justice…

Order!

Pole, Hon. Temporary Speaker. You know me. You are my good friend. I had not noticed that there was a change of guard.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, the East African Court of Justice normally rules on matters that had been dispensed with at the Supreme Court of a country. However, when you look at the selection of judges who sit on the East African Court of Justice, they are incomparable to Supreme Court judges. I sometimes think that some rulings are usually upside down. How can a judge who is of an inferior position rule against a judge of the Supreme Court, who is of a higher ranking? The same is applicable to EALA. We need a law to ensure that judges who go to the East African Court of Justice or Members who go to the EALA are of high stature because those institutions require such.

What are our interests in EALA? Our interests are indicated by the functions that EALA is supposed to perform. It is supposed to liaise with national assemblies of partner states on matters relating to the East African Community and countries within that scope. That is why when we elect Members to that Assembly, we need to do what the Chairperson said. The Chairperson stated that as is the practice in other countries, persons who are applying to the Assembly should make a presentation to the people who are selecting or electing them. We also need to change the rules so that persons who are applying to serve in this Assembly also make a presentation for those who will be picking them to look at.

The other function of the Assembly is to discuss important matters. In addition to approving budgets and all that, they discuss matters affecting the Community and make recommendations on the implementation of the Community Treaty as they may deem necessary. Remember that treaties are very serious laws which guide the relationship between countries and States. That is why the persons who have been proposed to the Assembly are up to the task.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish you would protect me from the interruption.

The names that have been forwarded to the House are of persons who we believe will represent our country properly. They have good and credible reputations. Some of them have been Members of this House and the Senate and some are members of the society who have been practising law in one way or another.

Order, Hon Johanna Kipyegon. What is out of order, Hon. Sabina?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I beg your indulgence under Standing Order 95. We are all aware that as a House, we need to conclude this matter. Looking at the House, I can see that we have quorum. We need this matter to be gazetted, so that we can vote for the candidates on Thursday. I, therefore, request the House allows the Mover to reply, so that we can abide by the timelines as per the regulations.

Hon. Sabina, I have noted your request and the submissions accompanying it. Let me allow Hon. Johana Kipyegon to complete his presentation and then I will seek the approval of the House in the direction you are seeking.

Thank you, Hon Temporary Speaker for that guidance. I was about to conclude. When you look at the team which has been picked, I wish the numbers would have been enough for all of them. We have 15 on one side and another 12 on the other side. All these people are qualified. They are very good Kenyans. These are people who have served as Members of Parliament, MCAs, lawyers, advocates of the High Court, businesspeople, and personal assistants to Members of Parliament or politicians. How I wish you could avail space for all of them. Because the space is not enough, we are only going to pick the ones we know will fit the bill. As we identify them, we need to also look at the issue of gender representation, ethnic or regional balance, and other issues. I know Members will sit and look at the ones who fit this particular bill. Persons who will be picked should represent this country properly. They should give us a good name and legislate matters which bring the East African Community together. Most importantly, they should pray for the country which is at war now, and which recently joined the EAC, namely, the DRC.

Thank you, I support.

Hon. Sabina Chege had stood in her place to ask whether the Mover should be called upon to reply.

Mover.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. May I take this opportunity to thank all the Members who have contributed.

I sincerely thank Members from both Houses, the Joint Committee, our Clerks who worked tirelessly, and at a personal level, the presiding officers who worked tirelessly to see this process complete.

The timelines for this election are normally very strict. For that reason, we need to gazette it tonight, so that we can have the election on Thursday.

I thank everyone and I beg to reply.

Order, Hon. Members! I beg the Members to sit so that we can put the Question on Order No 9. Order, Whip of the Majority Party! Freeze! Who is that walking out? Freeze!

Members, because you are there, there is a Question which was deferred for Motion No 9. I now put the Question.

Next Order.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to raise this issue of grave national importance. During the 12th Parliament, I presented a Petition in this House drawing its attention to the increase and prevalence of chemical pesticides in Kenya, which pose a risk to human health, environment and the larger biodiversity.

The respective Committee tabled the Report of the Petition. However, the resolutions of this House are yet to be implemented by the relevant bodies, particularly the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) . Therefore, the continuing prevalence of chemical pesticides in Kenya is posing a risk to various members of the general public. We know that we have a high incidence of cancer and neurotoxicity in the country, which is as a result of those particular pesticides.

We are concerned that about 76 per cent of the total volumes of pesticides that are used in Kenya have one or more active ingredients that are categorised as highly hazardous pesticides; noting that those highly hazardous pesticides are a global human rights concern which are endangering, inter alia, the right to food, health as well as clean healthy environment. They are regulated by international policy instruments to which Kenya is a state party with direct operational implications for pesticide management.

About 44 per cent of the total volume of pesticides used in Kenya are not allowed for use in Europe and other jurisdictions but the same, for some unexplainable double standards, are still allowed and permitted in Kenya. Further, the use of the pesticides in Kenya has not been accompanied with awareness to farmers and other users on their toxicity levels and application. What is happening in the country amounts to criminal negligence and reckless endangerment of the Kenyan population by bodies such as PCPB.

It is noteworthy to say that the Superior Court of California in the United States of America (USA) awarded a farmer US$250 million in damages for developing cancer as a result of repeated

exposure to the herbicide Roundup that is manufactured by Monsanto. The court found that Monsanto did not make information on the dangers of this pesticide available to the public. The same herbicide Roundup is currently sold across our agrovets in this country. When it became public that Roundup was a dangerous product, the same agrochemical companies rebranded the product and called it a different name.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, we are aware that the Pest Control Product Act Cap. 346 of the Laws of Kenya does not state environmental, human health or biodiversity laws as a concern in the registration process. We are further aware that the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has been contravening Section 15 of the Pest Control Product Act by failing to publish the available information on actual levels of the pesticides in food samples collected and putting in place a regular monitoring system. We are noting also that the Pest Control Products Board (PPB) has not been following the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) International Code of Conduct on Pesticides Management and further, that nothing has been done to ban or withdraw or any strategy developed to get rid from the Kenyan market of those toxic pesticides.

Further, the Government, since my Petition in 2019, has neither established nor strengthened the monitoring system on the use of the pesticides through the data collection on food samples in the market and the levels of pesticides contained. We are also aware that this problem of harmful pesticides and effects is closer to home than can be stated. The Pesticides Atlas that was recently launched by the Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation – and many of you received copies

I give you two more minutes.

The measures we are requesting for are:

Condolences of the House are equally registered. I am sorry for the loss, Hon. Deputy Speaker. The Member for Suba North, Hon. Millie Grace Odhiambo, Senior Counsel.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to condole with my sister on the loss of her friend. I am very sorry, especially for the fact that, in this age and time, a woman should die while giving birth. It is unfortunate. I hope that is one of the things that we will be looking into.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, let me also take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new role. I have not had an opportunity to do so. You are doing very well. Homa Bay is proud of you.

I want to agree with my sister the Deputy Speaker, especially with her sentiments on harmful effects of pesticides. If it was not for the fact that she is bereaved, I would have taken her on a different target. Since she is bereaved and is my good friend, I will be kind to her. I will limit the things I had intended to say. But I just want to say so that I do not go back and forth on many of these issues. For the longest time, we have been very careless in the way we expose our citizens to many hazardous items like pesticides in this country, to the situation where we are now seeing fish dying in Lake Victoria. It could also be from harmful industrial waste, and we do not take that seriously. It is a no wonder that we have many cases of cancer; and it is not just in Kirinyaga. If you look at a place like my constituency when I have a public gathering, there will always be a person coming to you with a case of cancer - cervical cancer and breast cancer. The worst was actually during the campaigns. I think I have even shared it on the Floor of the House. There is this woman whom the public asked me to support but because the woman did not think I took the issue seriously, she came and undressed before the public so that I could see how bad it was. I have never seen such a breast in my life. Even access to basic care when you have cases of cancer like that is difficult and yet, many of them are preventable. When you look at countries like the USA and other developed countries, you will hear people saying: “My mother died very young”. “My father died very young”. How old? At 80 years and yet, life expectancy in my constituency was, until recently, 37 years in this age and time. Again, I am saying that many of those things are very preventable. So, I agree with my sister that we need to amend the law to consider some of those harmful effects.

I also want to say that I do not agree that we should actually remove the boards. That is because it is not their fault. If you look at some of the things that are being said, there is a problem in the law. But there is also lack of a coherent government policy. When you actually look at it, I know that some of us have been a little kind because we are saying that the Government is in transition. It is not correct to hear a person say that the Cabinet has not sat and yet, we have already approved Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) . What is the impact of GMOs, for instance, in our own being? It could probably be the same thing. Have we looked at it? So, we need not be too excited as Government. We also need to have coherent and very proper policy processes so that we move away from roadside declarations when we are dealing with serious issues. Ordinarily, the law should follow policy. What we have been doing is that policy now follows the law. We need to be clear what the Government policy is on some of those issues.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, with those few remarks, because I can see my time is up, I wish to support the sentiments and indicate that I am a passionate protector of plants. I did Plant Genetic Resources Intellectual Property Rights as part of my thesis for my master’s degree at the University of Nairobi.

Thank you. I support. Of course, with a rider on the removal of the board.

Thank you, Hon. Milly Odhiambo. Your thoughts are always valuable. Hon. Sabina Chege, nominated MP.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. At the outset, I really support my sister as I also condole with her friend and the family. The Deputy Speaker has been very passionate about this matter. I just want to register that this matter was brought before my Departmental Committee on Health when I was the Chairperson, and we deliberated on the matter. It was in the form of a Petition over which we involved several stakeholders. But I am sad. I will not go through Millie’s way that nothing seemed to move even after this House passed resolutions and gave recommendations. It is sad that we are the only country that is not selfish of its own citizens.

I have been a farmer before. If you are to export any food products out of this country, there is limitation even on when to spray pesticides. There are very strict measures. But it is sad that sometimes the products that are rejected for export at the airport are the ones that find their way back to our markets. You will find them being sold at the supermarkets and in our markets. Sometimes, even the ones who protect the so-called international markets from pesticides will find the pesticides on their plates. When you go to the supermarket, you do not know where the product comes from. Therefore, the issue of traceability of the pesticide arises. We should ask ourselves this: If they are rejected in other countries, why should Kenya be the dumping place? We need to be serious about our citizenry.

It is sad that we are mourning the death of one of our colleague’s daughter who succumbed to cancer at 10 years old. Cancer has touched each one of us directly or indirectly; either through a family member, a person that you support, or a voter. As a nation, we must ask ourselves the hard questions: When did the rain start beating us? Why are we having so many cases of cancer in this country? Are there things that we can control?

Hon. Millie has mentioned about the fish dying at the Lake. That is just an indicator of the worst things that are happening to us. I am in support of people moving away from offices so that they can take the lives of Kenyans seriously. We must put the lives of our voters first. We are always happy when we go to ask for their votes but when it comes to protection of innocent Kenyans who do not know what they are consuming, we turn a blind eye. I support and would like to urge the Government that this is the right time to crack the whip and make sure that the food we find on our tables, whether from the market or the supermarket, should go through similar scrutiny like that of the products we export. We must protect our own first before we even think of commercialisation and foreign exchange. We are not keen on our own. So, I support and pray that whatever deliberation will be passed…

I do not know which committee follows up on issues that are passed in this House. Sometimes, we take time to deliberate, research and call the stakeholders but after we pass resolutions in this House, people get away with them. We should have a mechanism of recalling matters that are passed by this House. If no action is taken, then we should be the House that takes action.

I thank you for giving me the opportunity.

Just hold on, Hon. Sabina Chege. Is the Chairperson of the Committee on Implementation in the House? I remember this debate was raised by the Deputy Speaker in the last Parliament, and the debate was very passionate. It is unfortunate that we are still pursuing this and yet, the Chairperson of the Committee who should be pursuing House resolutions is not even present. Is the Vice-Chairperson there?

There is a Member present.

She will get a chance to speak. Take note that we want action from that Committee in terms of implementation of house resolutions.

Thank you. As I conclude, I just want to urge the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Gladys Boss, to keep on the fight. Let her neither tire nor give up. I know that sometimes you will get offers from the other side, but let us stand to protect the lives of Kenyans.

I thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Pukose.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to support this Motion for Adjournment by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Gladys Boss. First, I congratulate her for the passion with which she has followed up on this matter, despite that she has not made much progress on it. However, highlighting it is one way of making people and institutions concerned aware.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, why have we not made any progress on this? If you look at the impact of pesticides and herbicides like paraquat and those that are glyphosate-based, they are completely harmful. A sip of paraquat would kill a human being, yet factories continue manufacturing it and we continue using it in our systems. One of our biggest problems that we must accept as a country is that we are weak on legislation. There is no food safety law in this country. I think the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock was looking at a food safety law, which they have not brought to the Floor nor have they done pre-publication.

I want to call upon the Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock to introduce a food safety law. This is because food safety is a very important factor. Occasionally, most of us who go to western Kenya drive through Soko Mjinga Market at the border of Kiambu and Nyandarua. Looking at the lorries carrying cabbages and sukuma wiki, that is not the way to transport food. That food ends up in supermarkets in Nairobi, then on your table and you eat it. That is not hygienic food.

We do not have proper packaging and transportation of food in this country. How do we transport cabbages right from where they are harvested to here? Even as they are harvested in the farm, are they washed to ensure that chemicals are removed? This is because when you spray chemicals on the cabbages, sukuma wiki or fruits in the farms, the contents remain on them. So, before it reaches the market, there is no mechanism to ensure that it is safe for human consumption. There must be mechanism to ensure that by the time it gets to the supermarkets, it is washed to a certain level and it is safe for consumption. Even the fruits that we buy in the supermarkets are sprayed with chemicals – herbicides and pesticides. You buy and even start eating them in the car on your way home. That is how many people are getting cancer and other conditions like neurotoxicity, hormonal or genetic diseases.

According to me, Kenya should have a food safety law, after which we should strengthen the Pesticide Control Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Occasionally, you hear people complaining that sugar has some mercury and the meat in the supermarkets has a lot of preservatives beyond the normal requirement. They do this for a short period and afterwards go back to their day-to-day consumption. They continue using the sugar with mercury and eating the meat with a lot of chemical preservatives. You go to the supermarket…

I give you one more minute.

I was waiting for the warning so that I can time myself. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for being magnanimous and adding me one more minute. We need to ensure that regulatory laws and enforcement mechanisms are in place so

as to ensure that whatever is harmful to our people is prevented, and primary healthcare is the key way to go.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, with those few remarks, I support.

Ahsante sana. Mbunge wa kaunti ya Mombasa, Mhe. Zamzam Chimba.

Ahsante sana, Mhe. Spika wa Muda. Kwanza, ningetaka kutoa rambirambi zangu za pole kwa dadangu kipenzi, Deputy Speaker Hon. Shollei. Poleni sana. Mjadala huu ambao umeletwa leo Bungeni uko na tamausho sana. Tuko na visa vingi sana vya saratani ndani ya Kaunti ya Mombasa. Utafiti uliotolewa hivi majuzi unaonyesha kwamba Mombasa inaongoza katika haya maswala ya saratani. Ningependa kuwaelezea kuwa vyakula tunavyokula vinasababisha saratani. Vyakula vilivyo ndani ya maduka yetu makuu vina athari nyingi. Unapoangalia kuku, ukimchinja nyumbani ukamweka mahali utampata kama amenyong’onyea, ilhali akiwa katika haya maduka makubwa, huwa amefura. Hii ni kwa sababu kuna zile kemikali ambazo kuku huwa wanadungwa katika hayo maduka makubwa.

Siku hizi wakulima katika mashamba yetu wananyunyizia kemikali ambazo ni kali sana. Ndio maana tunaona akina mama wajawazito wanapata watoto ambao hawaeleweki, na wana mapungufu ya kimaumbile. Idara inayohusika lazima iangalie jambo hili, na watafute mbinu mwafaka ya kuzingatia sheria inayoweza kuthibiti mambo kama haya. Hii ni kwa sababu jambo hili limekuwa donda sugu ndani ya Taifa la Kenya sasa.

Kama alivyosema dada yangu, Mhe. Shollei, sisi tulikuwa tunatoa pyrethrum hapa nyumbani. Kwa nini kampuni zetu na viwanda vyetu vya hapa nchini huwa vinafungwa kila siku? Inafaa kule Mombasa tupate viwanda vya korosho, sukari ama cha mnazi badala ya kutoa nazi kutoka India au China, ilhali hatujui kemikali gani zimewekwa ndani. Wasiwasi wangu mkubwa ni kwa sababu ya watu wangu wa Kaunti ya Mombasa. Akina mama wako na mitihani mikubwa. Ningependa kushauri hao wanaohusika kupitisha mambo haya kuwa waangalie sheria ambayo inaweza kuweka vizingiti na kudhibiti zile kemikali zinazotumiwa katika mashamba yetu kwanza. Yafaa Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) iangalie kemikali zinazotumiwa katika vyakula vinavyoletwa kwenye maduka yetu makubwa. Sisi kama jamii tunaponunua bidhaa, tunapatwa na matatizo mengi sana.

Namshukuru dada yangu kwa kuleta Hoja hii. Pia naunga mkono kuwa wale wanaofanya mambo haya wachukuliwe hatua.

Order! Order! Ni Mbunge yupi anayepita bila kuinama. Zingatia itikadi za Bunge. Mbunge aliye mbele ya Mhe. Zamzam, nenda pale uiname.

Nenda umheshimu Spika wa Muda ndio uingie ndani kulingana na itikadi za Bunge hili

Tena ni Mbunge shupavu, Spika wa Muda, na wakili.

Akupe heshima zako kama Spika. Nikimalizia, lazima zile idara husika katika mambo haya ya mbolea kutoka nje ziangalie zinaletea Wakenya nini. Tusifanye Wakenya kama wanyama; wanatupiwa kitu chochote kama mbwa na kuweka ndani ya miili yao. Tutakuja kulimaliza taifa hili kwa maradhi. Na hawa

wanaoleta mbolea hizi wamezikataa huko kwao. Lakini mimi nafikiria huu ni ule mpango wa kupunguza nambari za wananchi katika dunia. Ndio maana matatizo yote yanabwagwa hapa. Naiomba idara husika ichukue hatua kali na tupatie Wakenya vyakula vilivyosawa.

Ahsante sana, Bw. Spika wa Muda. Mimi ni Mbunge wa Mombasa, na kila siku nawatetea wananchi wa Mombasa.

Ahsante sana. Member of Parliament for Laikipia East. Hon. Mwangi Kiunjuri.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this very important Motion that is before us. I thank the Hon. Deputy Speaker for moving it. If you look at what we are discussing today and the health of our people, the suffering we are going through as a country is an issue of negligence. The PCPB is a professional body that is run by professionals. I believe that their first duty is to protect the rights of Kenyans. Today, they owe us the duty equally the same way agrochemical companies and suppliers owe us the duty of care and full disclosure on the effects of the pesticides that we are using.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, all over the world, it is the duty of any manufacturer to ensure that he educates the users of his finished commodities on the dangers that can befall them. For example, if you look at Kenya today, every packet of cigarettes comes with information warning that smoking is harmful to your body. If we can do that to our entrepreneurs and factories in this country, why do we allow other foreign companies to come to Kenya and dominate us in our territory, with the full knowledge of our professionals and bodies that are set up to protect Kenyans? We are not talking about the black market, whereby trade is conducted without the knowledge of the authorities. We are talking about chemicals that are supplied in this country which our institutions are aware of its dangers, but they do not take the simplest steps. For example, it is not only how harmful the chemicals will be when you consume the product, but also during the application.

That is why it is important for us to discuss issues of agricultural extension. Do we have Kenyans who are trained enough to teach Kenyans how to apply those chemicals – including those that are not harmful – at the county or national level? You find people spraying their farms with no protection gear and without observing hygiene in terms of what they should do after applying those chemicals. Some farmers spray their vegetables in the morning and then they take them to the market in the afternoon. Do we have any food safety law, because that is where we should start from? Once again, are we even implementing the laws that we have today? It shows how we have neglected ourselves, our people, and we continue to blame others.

We know the companies and they know themselves. Their cases were decided globally. Those companies cannot sell these products in their countries. Even if they do so, they do it under supervision, and they adhere to the rules and regulations. However, this is the only place they come to dump their chemical pesticides. They do not care. They do not alert and educate us on their dangers. There is no information about them. The institutions that should do so do not do it. With technology these days, there are applications which even people in the villages can follow the laid down procedures. It is high time that this House decisively comes up with a law, ensure that it is followed, and empower the Committee on Implementation, if it is not empowered. Above all, monitoring is a must in this country. People are suffering. Central province and the whole country has suffered. It is high time that we support this Motion. I believe that we shall have amendments that should be adhered to or followed to ensure that we protect our people.

I support the Motion.

Thank you, Hon. Mwangi Kiunjuri. I know that only a few of us remember that you are the immediate former Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation. Therefore, you have spoken from deep knowledge of the subject matter.

Let us have the Member for Nyeri Town, Hon. Maina Mathenge.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to support the Motion by the Hon. Deputy Speaker on increased use of pesticides in Kenya. Let me also congratulate you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Whenever you are on the Chair, my lucky star shines. You should sit there often because I get a chance to speak.

It is sad in this country because up to 42 per cent of residual pesticides are found on a very popular food, sukuma wiki, which is practically consumed in every household right from State House to the rural colonial village in my county of Nyeri. In my constituency, we are literally fundraising for cancer treatment every weekend - literally every weekend! Many of the people affected have been working in the farms, especially those who have been spraying pesticides on coffee and horticultural produce. Therefore, the PCPB cannot escape censure from this House. They have been at the helm for quite some time. The question of inspection does not exist.

On the question of standards, KEBS is also a culprit, KEPHIS, in terms of monitoring what is happening across the markets in our country… It is sad that in this country, no regulatory body is charged with controlling the quality of fertiliser that is supplied to our farmers. None whatsoever! There is a complete gap yet, we continue to claim that the way to go is to keep subsidising farm inputs.

In India, with the increased consumption of chemical fertilisers and increased production of food, cancer cases have risen. As a result, very many county governments in India have gone organic. The use of simple bio-fertilisers which can be produced by farmers on their farms, simple technology that can be passed on to our farmers, is available; and evidence of its use shows that it has the capacity to reduce pesticides use by up to 40 per cent. We, however, continue encouraging our farmers to go and buy pesticides. The issue of leukaemia in children is directly linked to pesticides use. In Kiambu, where again pesticide use is very high, there have been reported cases of manhood defects in children. For how long can we, as a House, continue sitting here and turning a blind eye to the fact that we need to protect our people?

Therefore, I urge us not to hesitate. The Select Committee on Implementation must be given teeth. It is time that this House looked collectively at who sits in the Committee. That Committee should be voted for directly as a Committee of this House so that they are answerable directly to this House in terms of what happens to the decisions that are made in this House. When they go out there, they have no takers. We cannot then continue claiming that we are the august House. We have people who have been sanctioned by this House and yet, we find them occupying offices in this country and in the Government.

I wish to support this Motion. Thank you.

Mjumbe wa Jimbo la Migori, Mheshimiwa Fatuma Mohammed.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity. On behalf of people of Migori, we are also farmers who grow sugar-cane, maize and the rest. I think that, as Kenyans, we tend to major on minors. When the Government says that they are giving us cheap fertilisers, we are not even being told where the fertiliser is coming from, what chemicals are in it, and if truly the Government wants to support

farmers. I believe that the best way to do it, which at the end will also create job opportunity for our youth… Our youth are very bright. So many of us have gone through universities and can do these things at home and make for us the right fertilisers without any chemicals or, if any, very minimal. The Government is busy importing and reducing the price. Why not put the money in the hands our youth through the right channels, and tell them to be creative? That will create jobs and sustain our economy by giving us good fertiliser so that our crops can grow.

Right now, we are facing starvation. We are dying of hunger. We do not have food. We are importing fertilisers and yet, we do not have rains. What will the fertiliser do to us when we do not have the rains? We have our young people who are very energetic and innovative, but they are not given an opportunity to showcase what they have. I would urge the Government to stop majoring on the minors and do the right thing. When we talk of corruption, when you see a product coming in that is harmful to our people, where else do you place it? It is corruption! How did it get in? The relevant authorities that are supposed to look at the products that come in are reluctant or corrupt. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this will affect everybody. But we take it very lightly. It will not choose who to kill. It will kill my generation, the President’s generation, farmers, and priests’ generation.

As Kenyans, we used to be the agricultural hub, but we are no longer one. When we are saying people are dying, it means agriculture, tourism and other sectors are down. When you cannot feed your people, then we have failed as leaders of the Government, country and the community. We have counties. A county like Migori is able to produce sugar-cane. The waste products that come from sugar-cane can be converted into good fertilizer but, instead, it is thrown away and it becomes hazardous waste instead. I am requesting the Government to take this seriously. You cannot turn us into beggars; that we are begging for food. That is the worst that a country can do, begging for food while we have hands. We are not in war. Some countries are in war and cannot go to their farms because of bombs everywhere but Kenya is a peaceful country. We can do farming right from the top to the lowest person. I urge our leaders to concentrate on our youth and create job opportunities by giving them an opportunity to showcase what they can do for us to improve our situation.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

The Member of Parliament for Ruiru, Hon. Simon King’ara.

Thank you Hon. Temporary Speaker, at the outset, may I start by congratulating you for having the opportunity to serve in the Speaker’s Panel. I want to remember the great people of Ruiru who have given me the opportunity to serve them for the second time.

I want to thank our Deputy Speaker for bringing this important Adjournment Motion which should be the first thing to be discussed. We would not be here if we are unhealthy. It is sad to note that not long ago, many diseases did not exist. Now we have very many diseases which do not have a cure. It is sad because they are imported and yet, we have KEBS. I do not know which standards they look at. A Member has said that the chemicals that are used in horticultural farming are the lead causes of those unfamiliar diseases, including cancer.

Not long ago, we had pyrethrum. I come from Kiambu County where pyrethrum was the leading source of income. Unfortunately, it was brought down without a reason. I think we need to put a strong legislation especially on pesticides which can be made by Kenyans. This will create employment, keep our young ones busy and improve our industries thus leading to industrialization in the long run. We will be exporters rather than importers. That should be the

direction. Many people have talked about the strong pesticide that causes unfamiliar diseases. Kenya is one of the Commonwealth countries.

If this pesticide is not used in other parts of the Commonwealth, why is it used in Kenya and, more so, Africa? It is our duty to come up with very strong legislation which can take care of Kenyans and even East Africans, now that we are talking of the East African Legislative Assembly. Somebody asked where the rain started beating us. I think it is lack of execution. We come up with good laws, but we do not execute them. We should have a timeline. When something is agreed upon through the processes of this House, let us work on how we can limit the time for execution. We should find out how an issue that was brought some time back by our Deputy Speaker died. Was it here for it to be discussed and then be shelved? I pose that question and support.

Mjumbe wa Changamwe, Ndugu Mhe. Omar Mwinyi.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. At the outset, I would like to congratulate you for being appointed to the Chairperson’s Panel. We are proud of you. Secondly, I would like to congratulate the Deputy Speaker for coming up with this idea.

I would like to point out about how our country is so reckless with its ‘do not care attitude’ and yet, a country like Uganda, our neighbouring country across the border, is so keen on protection of its people to the point that they never use fertilisers or chemicals in their crops. When you visit Kampala City, you will be surprised. In the city centre, it may take you one hour before you locate a chemist and yet, in the small town of Migori, you may find 1,000 chemists. Every other shop is a chemist. The reason is that Kenya is a sick nation and this is the case in all the other towns in our country.

The Government agencies have people who are qualified and are up to the task, but there is what we call Government interference. A case in point is just two years ago, when we had a shipload of maize at the Port of Mombasa and KEPHIS and public health officials who were responsible for doing the check-ups and investigations, were asked to step aside so that they could not do their investigations and bring out their report. If this is coming from the Government, then it shows that our Government is not keen on protecting its own people.

It should come to our notice that, of late, cases of diseases which have very far-reaching effects on our health, such as cancer, are on the rise. This is something that should worry us because it is not only affecting the poor, but everybody else. It is unfortunate that those who are less fortunate bear the brunt since they cannot afford the treatment of cancer, which is as a result of Government’s inability to let its own officers do research on all the products that come our way so that our people can be safe. I want to laud the sentiments of the Nyeri Town Member that some of those products find their way to State House, like sukuma wiki, because it is consumed everywhere.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I think the problem is the idea of making quick money. We, sometimes, do not mind the health of our people because we can make a kill whenever such products make way into our country.

We have hazardous chemicals which are detrimental to our health and, of course, make us less productive. Due to this, our country can never grow and measure up to other developing countries. We also have insecticides in our homes which are applied on a daily basis to kill mosquitoes and cockroaches. You will find someone spraying a room and then sleeping in the next half an hour. We are definitely inhaling dangerous chemicals which are in turn a problem to our health. Finally, we are signatories to very many international treaties and yet, we are not adhering to simple rules of making sure our people are safe.

I want to congratulate Hon. Deputy Speaker for coming up with this important Motion but, as we can see, the new Government has already implemented the use of GMO without the Cabinet’s decision. You can imagine how our country is put at risk by our own Government. Our Government needs to put its affairs in order.

I thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I support.

Member for West Mugirango, Hon Stephen Mogaka.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity and for being vigilant and corrective of us newcomers. I want to add my voice to this pesticide issue in this country because we have a very high rate of fatalities that are attributed to pesticides. For instance, my constituency, West Mugirango, is surrounded by tea estates which use a lot of pesticides. Even the employees who are made to use the pesticides have no protective gear. As a result, this country is facing a health crisis, particularly the illiterate workers of the major tea estates who expose themselves to danger in those plantations just to earn a living. Besides that, when pesticides are applied and livestock graze in those areas, many of them get sick or even die because of the careless application of the pesticides without warning. Pesticides are poisonous and every poison or medicine in this country is prescribed and has warnings on the dangers that anybody who comes into contact with it suffers. There are skin diseases that are contracted from contact with those pesticides by human beings or animals. I want to add my voice on behalf of the people of West Mugirango that we call for an urgent law that will regulate the management and application of pesticides in this country, not forgetting those which are applied on food, bought in the market and consumed, posing a great health hazard to the people.

Hon Temporary Speaker, I support.

Member for Marsabit County, Dr. Naomi Waqo.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for allowing me to add my voice to this very important Motion as I also congratulate our Deputy Speaker for bringing it to the House for the second time. It is unfortunate that it did not get deserved attention during the 12th Parliament. I also condole with her as I stand and it is my prayer that God will comfort your friend’s family.

At the outset, I support this Motion on the harmful effects of pesticides. As many of my colleagues have already contributed, we know that our people or citizens have suffered in many ways due to those pesticides. This has negative effects on the soil, water, vegetation, human beings and wild animals. That is why today we, as a country, have so many challenges, especially when it comes to cancer patients. It has affected every part of this country. Although the number of people from different counties differ, the residents of Marsabit County have suffered. We keep losing lives as a result of this. What is present in one county affects people in another county.

I do not know why we, as Kenyans, have not been very careful on what our citizens take or consume. As we all know, prevention is better than cure, and we should have prevented most of the problems that we are facing today. Unfortunately, we have not given it much attention. The love of money has led us into all those problems. Today, every Member knows the challenge we go through, because almost every weekend, we raise money to help somebody who is suffering from either cancer or another terminal disease that is caused by pesticides. We all know that this is due to the indirect poison that people take in. It is dangerous for us to continue with this. Because we have the Pest Control Products Board in place and we have been badly exposed in the past, we should take the necessary controls and put measures in place so that we avoid more problems in

future. Unless we get serious and have laws and necessary systems in place, our people will continue perishing. It will not be good because the effect of this is beyond what we can do today, as a country. We have already lost a lot, and we need to get into the recovery stage. I know it will take us some years to recover, but it is good for us to get on it and see how we can save lives.

I support this Motion and congratulate our Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker and Hon. Members, for the interest in the Motion.

Hon. Members, the time being 7.00 p.m., this House stands adjourned until Wednesday, 16th November 2022, at 9.30 a.m.

The House rose at 7.00 p.m.

Published by Clerk of the National Assembly Parliament Buildings Nairobi