National Assembly · Afternoon Sitting
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Members debated teacher recruitment and security in the North Eastern region and measures to protect KCSE exam integrity, including a proposed Ksh3.8 billion budget for examiners. The House also considered an amendment to a 2015 bill, with broad support but a brief dispute over remarks concerning the Teachers Service Commission’s independence. The afternoon sitting was marked by procedural disputes, including challenges over the proper laying of papers and points of order, before Hon. Omar Mwinyi raised serious concerns about the deplorable conditions, illegal evictions and alleged misconduct in National Housing Corporation estates in Changamwe. The Temporary Speaker referred the matter to the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works, with a commitment to provide a comprehensive response within 21 days after the recess. Members voiced strong concerns about the current examination management system, accusing the Cabinet Secretary of inadequate responses and highlighting risks of cheating due to flawed paper distribution. They also raised regional challenges, such as teacher shortages in North Eastern Kenya and logistical hurdles in collecting exam containers, urging urgent clarification and action from the education authorities.
I direct that the Quorum Bell be rung for 10 minutes.
[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]
We may begin. Hon. Members, I wish to re-order the Order Paper. We will now go to Order No.8 followed by Orders No.9 and 10. Thereafter, we will come back to Order No.4.
procedures for, and oversee the training, testing and licensing of drivers; now therefore, this House resolves that the Government through the Ministry of Roads and Transport undertakes a comprehensive overhaul of the transportation sector to provide for proper regulation of the sector and ensure strict operationalisation of the traffic regulations to provide a safer and more reliable transport se…
Next Order.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to give notice of the following Motion: THAT, this House adopts the Report of the Select Committee on the National Government Constituencies Development Fund on its consideration of a nominee for appointment to the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committee of Tiaty Constituency.
On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.
What is out of order?
Hon. Temporary Speaker, this is a procedural issue. You permitted the Chairperson of the Select Committee on NG-CDF to lay the Paper on the Motion, which he later moved. He moved it without laying the Paper. He said, “I lay”, then he sat down. He must bring the Paper here. Could you direct him appropriately? This is something that only a full-fledged scholar would understand.
Order, Hon. Kaluma. Please allow me to tell you what he has done. He laid the Paper accordingly. There is nothing out of order.
He did not!
He did, Hon. Members. There is another notice of Motion by the Member for Central Imenti, Hon. Moses Kirima. You may proceed. It has to do with the establishment of an emergency price control framework. He is out of the House. Next Order. Member for Changamwe, Hon. Omar Mwinyi. You may proceed.
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. If you had allowed me to contribute to the previous discussion, I would have…
Hon. Omar Mwinyi, please, go ahead and request for the Statement that you had intended to. You cannot go backwards. That is a matter that has been dispensed with.
I am guided. I only wanted to contribute briefly. If you had allowed me, I would have said that they were…
You are out of order, Hon. Omar Mwinyi.
Okay. Let me go on. I am now guided.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , I rise to request for a Statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works regarding the management of houses and treatment of tenants on estates in Mombasa owned by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) in Changamwe Constituency. Five blocks housing 796 familie…
Thank you very much, Hon. Omar Mwinyi. I will refer this to the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works. Is the Chairman, Hon. Johana Ng’eno, in the House? In the absence of Hon. Johana Ng’eno, can we have Hon. Owen Baya on behalf of the Leader of the Majority Party. Proceed.
I would like to undertake that we will provide a comprehensive response within 21 days, taking cognisant of the fact that the House will rise for recess tomorrow. We will probably report when the House reconvenes in the other week. I thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.
[(Hon. Omar Mwinyi stood up in his place)]
I can see Hon. Omar Mwinyi is on his feet. Are you not satisfied with the three weeks given by Hon. Baya?
The unbearable conditions that my people are facing cannot wait for 21 days. I would prefer two weeks at most.
Hon. Baya.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, I would be very happy to request Hon. Johana Ng’eno to report in the next two weeks. I am, however, also taking cognisant of the fact that Members are going on recess; ten days is two weeks. Within that period, it may not be possible to convene Members to consider it. I would like to even request the Committee to come over and see what you are talking about, so that they ha…
Hon. Omar Mwinyi, based on what Hon. Baya has said on behalf of the Leader of the Majority Party, and bearing in mind that Hon. Johana Ng’eno is not in the House, I would like to request you to take the 21 days as it has been proposed. Okay, you may proceed.
[(Hon. Omar Mwinyi spoke off the record)]
Hon. Temporary Speaker, I want this House to be aware that the whole Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works was there in Changamwe including the former Cabinet Secretary for Lands, and they saw all these things. They do not need any 21 days; ten days are enough. The whole Committee led by Hon. Johana Ng’eno, and the then Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Hon. Njeru, were the…
To progress, and based on the information that Hon. Omar Mwinyi has just given that the Committee visited, then this will be done in 14 days. Please communicate that to the Chairman. Hon. Members, yesterday, the Speaker made a ruling that the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Education and Research issues a Statement regarding management of examinations. I have seen that the Chairman has …
Hon. Temporary Speaker, I rise to make a statement which arose as a result of a question asked by the Deputy Leader of the Minority Party, Hon. Mbui. The concerns raised by the Members are right. They were good and it is a show of concern and as a leadership, we take a lot of interest in the performance of our children in constituencies and more specifically, the running of examinations during thi…
Hon. Chairman, I am sorry to interrupt you, but I note that the Deputy Leader of the Minority Party is not in the House.
You cannot respond. You must wait until when he is in.
When the question was asked, it became the property of the House. I would like to allow you to continue, but it is very important that when a Member asks, especially for a Statement, he or she ensures that they are in the House. You may proceed for the benefit of others.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, as much as the Deputy Leader of the Minority Party is not in the House, the issue at hand raised a lot of interest among Members across the aisle of the House. As directed by the Speaker, the Committee communicated to the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Hon. Machogu, and asked that he give us a very detailed Statement on the status of preparedness of the Ministry in regar…
Theories exams will run from 1st November 2023 to 4th November 2023. This is only in brief because the timetable does not give details. On the candidature of students, the Cabinet Secretary gave a big list and the total number of candidates for KCPE this year is 905,000. The total candidature is 3,606,972 for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), KCPE, KCSE and others. This is an…
Hon. Melly, I notice that you have a big document.
Yes, it is a big document.
Is it possible for you to summarise and table it so that other Members who want to go through it can do so? Just highlight the issues as raised in the Statement, and then table it so that Members can read all the details.
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I am well guided. I will summarise, but Members need to understand this. I will skim through some of the issues without going into details. I will pinpoint some of the pertinent areas in which Members raised a lot of concerns. The issue of identification and distribution of centres and containers and the mapping of examination centres was raised by several Membe…
On a point of order.
What is out of order, Hon. Timothy Toroitich?
None, Hon. Temporary Speaker.
Please, withdraw your intervention. Proceed, Hon. Chairperson.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, following the various engagements, the KNEC mapped out all examination centres to the nearest centres to avert delays at the start of the second examination session. During the mapping of the KPSEA, KCPE and KCSE, examination centres were categorised as follows. The exams have been reduced to two: One paper in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The alignment is as …
On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.
What is out of order, Hon. Mary Emaase?
Hon. Temporary Speaker, one of my sub- counties does not have a container. They are collecting exams from the neighbouring sub- county, Teso Central. Teso South does not have an exam container. I have gone to the Ministry and nothing has been done. It is out of order for the Chairperson to say that all the sub-counties have containers. That should be addressed.
Well, I ask you to wait until he finishes. Maybe that is among the ones that he will read last. Hon. Chairperson, if it is not there, then you may need to respond to the Member for Teso. Please finalise.
Hon. Temporary Speaker, the document is quite big. The Member for Teso South has a lot of information about her sub-county, but there are new containers that have been moved across. Let her wait and ask her question after. This Statement is from the Cabinet Secretary. Members will interrogate it after I have laid it on the table. On the alignment of examination centres to distribution centres tha…
Hon. Temporary Chairman, I beg to move: THAT, the Bill be amended by deleting Clause 2 and inserting the following new clause– Amendment of section 16 of No. 1A of 2015.
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Chairman. I support the amendment by the Mover of the Bill and by the Chairperson of the Committee. The Temporary Chairman : Thank you. The Hon. Kaluma.
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
Yes, Hon. Temporary Chairman. Somebody asked once whether a good thing could come from Bethlehem. For the first time, I am seeing a good proposal to be made into law by Members of the Majority Party. Something good has come from the Kenya Kwanza Administration - this one I would like to support. My only request is that, as much as we seek compliance with those ideals by those institutions or comm…
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Chairman. I stand to support the amendment. However, I want to caution my colleague, Hon. Kaluma, not to say that politicians are distributing forms for TSC. I have not distributed any forms. He needs to withdraw that statement. He did not say Kenya Kwanza. He said 'politicians.' The Temporary Chairman : Are you referring to Hon. Kaluma?
[(Several Hon. Members spoke off the record)]
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
Hon. Kaluma. The Temporary Chairman : Yes, that is how we call him.
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
He needs to withdraw the statement of politicians distributing forms because that is not in order. However, I stand to support the amendment. The Temporary Chairman : He did not talk about forms of any nature; I just heard forms. I do not know whether they are forms. Are they birth certificate forms?
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
He talked about what is happening in the TSC, where politicians are distributing TSC forms. The Temporary Chairman : What kind of forms? Is it birth certificates or death certificates?
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
That is what I want him to specify or to withdraw.
[(Question, that the words to be left out be left out, put and agreed to)]
(Question, that the words to be inserted in place thereof be inserted, put and agreed to)
Hon. Temporary Chairman, I beg to move: THAT, the Bill be amended by inserting the following new clause immediately after clause 1. 1A. Section 2 of the Public Service Act is amended by inserting the following new definitions in their proper alphabetic sequence– “authorized officer” means any officer appointed within the public service or service Commission to perform its delegated functions wi…
[(Values and Principles)]
[(in this Act referred to as the “principal Act”)]
[(Values and Principles)]
[(The new clause read a First Time)]
[(Question, that the new clause be read a Second Time, proposed)]
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
Hon. Temporary Chairman, I support the amendment by the Chairperson of the Committee, and I request others to support as well. Thank you. The Temporary Chairman : Thank you. Title The Temporary Chairman : Hon. Dawood do you want to speak on this? Amendment of section 2 of No. 1A of 2015.
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
[(Question, that the new clause be read a Second Time, put and agreed to)]
[(Question, that the new clause be added to the Bill, put and agreed to)]
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
[(Laughter)]
Hon. Temporary Chairman, I beg to move that the Committee do report to the House its consideration of the Public Service (Amendment) Bill, National Assembly Bill No.46 of 2022, and its approval thereof with amendments, and seek leave to sit again. The Temporary Chairman : Why did you seek leave to sit again? Move again. Just stop at ‘with amendments.’
[(Values and Principles)]
[(Hon. David Ochieng’)]
Okay. Hon. Temporary Chairman,
The Chairperson of the Committee of the whole House, please report.
Hon. Deputy Speaker, while in the Committee of the whole House, the House considered to conclusion the Public Service (Amendment) Bill, (National Assembly Bill No 46 of 2022) and the National Construction Authority (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.59 of 2022) . We were in the process of considering the Kenya Drugs Authority (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.54 of 20…
[(Values and Principles)]
Hon. Members, the time being 12.17 p.m., this House stands adjourned until this afternoon at 2.30 p.m. The House rose at 12.17 p.m.
Published by Clerk of the National Assembly Parliament Buildings Nairobi