National Assembly · Afternoon Sitting
Tuesday, 3 October 2023
Members expressed strong support for the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, highlighting reforms to the Anti‑Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, the Evidence Act, and the Judicature Act. They emphasized the need to curb corruption, modernise evidence rules for digital media, and expand the Court of Appeal to improve access to justice, while also noting procedural improvements such as reducing board sizes. The overall tone was constructive but underscored persistent challenges in governance and the judiciary. Hon. Kangogo Bowen seconded the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, flagging confusion between the EACC and DCI, the need for clearer mandates, and calling for more magistrate and appellate courts to reduce case backlogs. Hon. Samuel Atandi praised the anti‑corruption intent of the bill but criticised the proposal to give EACC investigative powers without first professionalising the agency, urging reforms to both the EACC and DCI. The Deputy and Temporary Speakers managed the procedural flow of the debate. Members raised concerns that promised sanitary pads for school‑going girls have not been delivered, citing evidence of continued water‑fetching by pupils. A separate point of order highlighted the inadequacy of allocated funds for international travel of committee members. The Deputy Speaker directed the matters to the appropriate departmental committees and noted procedural constraints.
I hereby direct that the Quorum Bell be rung for 10 minutes.
[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]
Serjeants-at-Arms, I direct that you stop the Bell. We can now proceed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 41 (4) relating to Messages to and from the Senate, I wish to report to the House that on 2nd October 2023, I received a Message from the Senate regarding the passage of two Bills, namely:
Hon. Members, noting the urgent nature of the Bills, the Committee is encouraged to expeditiously undertake public participation and report to the House for onward processing of the Bills. The House is accordingly guided. I thank you. Next Order. I do not think there are any Papers to be laid. Leader of the Majority Party, are there any Papers? Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice…
[(Loud consultations)]
Hon. Members, I wish to introduce to you delegations of staff from the Parliaments of Zambia and Namibia seated in the Speaker’s Gallery. From the National Assembly of Zambia:
Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, Hon. Sir. George, you have the Floor.
Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Sorry that this was delayed a little bit. I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table: Report of the Departmental Committee on Justice Legal Affairs on its consideration of the Conflict of Interest Bill (National Assembly Bill No.12 of 2023) . Thank you very much.
Next Order.
I think there are none. I do not see any notices of Motion. Next Order.
Hon. Ken Chonga, Member for Kilifi South, you were supposed to have a notice of Motion. If he is not here, we can always pivot back to him when we come back. Hon. Ken Chonga.
Yes!
Proceed.
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 33 (1) , I rise to seek leave for the adjournment of the House to discuss a definite matter of urgent national importance regarding the skyrocketing fuel prices in the country. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) , in its latest price review, revised the fuel prices for Super Petrol,…
Hon. Chonga, do you have 20 Members? Okay. I am reliably informed that you have 21 Members.
[(Several Members stood up in their places)]
[(Applause)]
Hon. Peter Lochakapong, Chaiperson of the Departmental
Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am very grateful. The Cabinet Secretary told us that he had directed the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action and other stakeholders involved to deal with this issue once and for all. Five months down the line, our children have no sanitary pads. I come from Kisii County and I have not seen any sanitary pads being issued to our young school-going girls. …
Hon. Dorice Donya, you can come up with a written Statement and send it to the Departmental Committee on Education; which Departmental Committee will handle the matter. Is it the Departmental Committee on Education, or the Departmental
When I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Education the question, he said that he would engage with the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action.
Okay. The Statement can be marked to the Departmental Committees on Education and Social Protection.
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.
On a point of order.
What is your point of order, Hon. Jared Okello?
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I have two issues that need your attention, direction and assistance. The first one relates to international travels by Members of this House together with our secretariat. In his wisdom, our Clerk, my good friend, Mr. Samuel Njoroge, took the amounts allocated to international travels and apportioned them along Committee lines. At the end of the day, we realised h…
Hon. Okello, that is a directive and advice from the Government. When it reaches the Clerk of the National Assembly, he will deal with it administratively and communicate to Members in their various committees. Trying to debate it in the House when we do not have an official circular from the Government is an exercise in futility. We should not debate a matter on the basis of newspaper reports. L…
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. That is not the direction I was taking but I was also …
No. I know you, Hon. Jared. Like I have said, you are alluding to something that is not properly before the House. It is an administrative issue that has been sent to accounting officers. Let the accounting officers communicate the details of it to their respective institutions. No. You only get one point of order. Sit down and then ask for a different point of order. Let us proceed. You will si…
[(Hon. Jared Okello spoke off the record)]
On a point of order.
What was your point of order, Hon. Gacheri?
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I thought Hon. Donya raised a general statement so, I am seeking your indulgence on whether Members can have a few minutes to kindly ventilate on the issue of sanitary towels. It is a pressing concern for our girls.
Okay. I can give you a chance to ventilate and then we will proceed.
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. When we passed the budget in this House, we put Ksh940 million for procurement of sanitary towels. Hon. Donya has told this House that she discussed this with the Cabinet Secretary for
Education who indicated the need to have progressive consultations with the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action. I want to confirm that more than 30 county women Members of the National Assembly had a sitting with the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action, Hon. Aisha Jumwa, to discuss the issue of sanitary towels. When we were signing …
Thank you Member for Kirinyaga County, Hon. Njeri. I indulged you even though there is no substantive statement before the House at the moment. I know you had raised this issue in regard to NGAAF and it was marked to the Departmental
On a point of order, Hon. Deputy Speaker.
Leader of the Majority Party, what is your point of order?
Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Pursuant to Standing Order 40 (2) , as we discussed in the House Business Committee (HBC) , I wish to request you to reorder business appearing as Order No.15 to become Order No.16 and business appearing as Order No.16 to take the place of Order No.15.
Hon. Members, following the request by the Member for Kikuyu who is also the Leader of the Majority Party, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah, and pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 40 (2) , I reorganise the business as follows: That, after Order No.13, the House will proceed to consider business appearing under Order No.16, which will be Order No.14 and after consideration, the House will then pro…
to consider business appearing as Order No.18, which will become Order No.15 in that sequence. You have made your point, Leader of the Majority Leader
Hon. Deputy Speaker, I think you got a little mixed-up. The request was after we dispose Order No.14, then you rearrange Order No.15, so that Order No.16 takes its place.
Okay. My direction should have been that after Order No.14 we will proceed to consider business appearing under Order No.16 which will now be referred to as Order No.15. Further, after the consideration of the business appearing under Order No.16, which will now be Order No.15, the House will proceed to consider business under Order No.18 which will now be Order No.16. Is that correct?
Yes, Hon. Deputy Speaker.
Thank you. Next Order.
Chairman, Public Petitions Committee, Hon. Nimrod Mbai.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion: THAT, this House adopts the Report of the Public Petitions Committee on its consideration of Public Petition No.07 of 2022 regarding Probable Loss of Investments in Cytonn High Yields Solutions Platform, laid on the Table of the House on Thursday, 4th May 2023. Hon. Temporary Speaker, on 16th November 2022, the Member for Alego Usonga Co…
Thank you. Let us hear the Member for Turbo.
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I wish to second the Motion on probable loss of investment in Cytonn High Yield Solutions Platform. Having listened to the petitioners and other witnesses, and having visited the various investments, we concluded that the CEO of Cytonn and the partners failed to apply sound corporate governance techniques and strategies on the investment portfolios. For example, …
[(Several Members spoke off the record)]
Hon. Janet Sitienei, just continue.
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Cytonn Investments Company chose to use the vehicle called CHSY instead of using the registered vehicles which are already registered with CMA. Therefore, the products they had were unregulated. The investors, who are the Petitioners, suffered pecuniary losses but they cannot be compensated because of the status of the Cytonn High Yield Solutions (CHYS) . Accordi…
[(Several Members spoke off the record)]
I do not know why you are pausing, Hon. Janet. Continue.
The CMA observed that there are financial services institutions that offer unregulated cash management products that would pull funds from the public for a guaranteed return. Therefore, CHYS was not within the mandate of the CMA. Therefore, CHYS duped the public by allowing them to invest their money in that institution, contrary to the provisions of the Capital Markets Regulations, 2002. The in…
[(Securities, Public Offers, Listing and Disclosures)]
The Cytonn Investments Management continues to engage in extremely aggressive advertising and marketing using words, statements and phrases that could entice and lure unsuspecting Kenyans into buying or taking up the products as advertised and marketed without sufficient notice and information, contrary to consumer protection laws. We request the CMA to fast-track alternative fund regulations for…
Hon. Janet, you have 30 seconds to properly second the Motion.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish to second this Motion and also pass it for debate so that our citizens can be guarded against any other losses in future. With those remarks, I second the Motion.
[(Question proposed)]
Hon. Members, the debate on this Motion will resume when the House sits next time because, under our Standing Orders, the adjournment Motion that is to be moved by Hon. Ken Chonga is scheduled to start at 6.00 O’clock. Hon. Members, I now call upon Hon. Ken Chonga to move his adjournment Motion.
[(Debate on Motion deferred)]
I need to be guided, Hon Temporary Speaker.
Hon. Member, you rose in your place and garnered proper support for an Adjournment Motion. The Speaker scheduled it for
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I beg to move: THAT, considering the rate at which the prices of fuel are changing and rising nearly every day, a concern about what could be done has come among Kenyans. Despite the fact that we are aware that global prices of fuel are going up, there is need for the Government to come up with concrete measures to address
this situation given the fact that there are too many effects that come along with these skyrocketing prices. As we all know, fuel is the driver of the economy. A situation where the prices of fuel are high compels the populace to spend more on fuel than on anything or even have some savings. There are too many effects. The cost of living, the cost of transport and the cost of production are unten…
Hon. Members, you are aware that Standing Order 33 gives each Member five minutes under this Motion, regardless of ranking or position. Only the Mover may take ten minutes. What is out of order, Member for Gatundu North?
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise under the provisions of Standing Order 35 to bring to your attention the fact that the House does not have the requisite quorum to continue transacting business. Therefore, we should work within our rules. Thank you.
From the look of the House, I order that the Quorum Bell be rung for 10 minutes. Serjeant-at-Arms, go ahead.
[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]
Serjeant-at-Arms, 10 minutes are over. Kindly, stop the Quorum Bell. Order, Members. Kindly be on your feet.
Hon. Members, there being no quorum, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, 4th October 2023, at 9.30