February 23, 2016 SENATE DEBATES Tuesday, 23rd February, 2016

Hon. Senators, I have a short communication to make on visiting delegations from various county assemblies on attachment at the Senate.

I would like to acknowledge the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery, this afternoon, of visiting staff from Nyamira and Kericho county assemblies. The county assembly staffers are here on a five-day attachment visit in similar departments at the Senate. I request each member of the delegation to stand when called out so that they may be acknowledged in the Senate tradition. They are:-

From Nyamira County Assembly Research Department:-

Is the Chairperson of the Sessional Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments here?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you may allow me a minute so that I can consult the secretariat to get the relevant documents to table.

Sen. Okong’o, can we defer this issue for a little while? I will reorganize the Order Paper.

Most obliged, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Next Order.

Sen. Okong’o, you are supposed to seek a statement.

Proceed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.45 (2) (b) to seek a statement from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Land and Natural Resources regarding weather forecast issued by the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) .

In the statement, the Chairperson should state:-

Is the Chairperson of the Committee here?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am here. Sorry I was consulting the Senator for Kakamega County.

Am sure on a different issue.

Yes, on a different issue, not on this one. We will endevour to provide the statement in two weeks’ time. Should we not be ready, I will report progress to the House.

Sen. Okong’o, is that okay with you?

I have no issue, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. That is good. I so order, in two weeks’ time let us get the statement.

I have no further request for statements. Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, I understand your statements are still undergoing process. Maybe they will be ready tomorrow.

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o, you may proceed.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I had sought leave of the Senate to make a statement on a matter which is important to us---

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o, would you allow me a minute so that Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo can first seek a statement? I am seized of your request.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.45 (2) (b) to seek a statement from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education regarding the shortage of teachers in West Pokot County.

In the statement, the Chairperson should:-

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Then proceed.

February 23, 2016 SENATE DEBATES DEDUCTIONS BY THE TSC

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.45 (2) (b) to seek for a statement from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education regarding the remittance of teachers’ sacco deductions by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) .

In the statement, the Chairperson should address the following:-

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I undertake to give response to these concerns in two weeks’ time.

On both issues?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, is that okay?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Okay, let us have the statements in two weeks’ time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I had earlier sought leave of the House under Standing Order No.45 (2) (a) to make a statement and bring the attention of the House to a matter that concerns us as Kenyans, Africans and East Africans.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, last week general and presidential elections were held in Uganda. The outcome of the presidential election has been very problematic. This is the first time in an African country where an election is held and there is no celebration of victory anywhere. If anything the victory rally that President Museveni had planned in Kampala had to be cancelled because of tremendous discontent of the Ugandan people on the conduct of the election, the degree of freeness and fairness and the interference by the State in the democratic process to subvert democracy and deny the people of Uganda the freedom to choose their leaders without fear or hindrance.

We sit on a precipice of disaster. Like it happened in the 1970s, we may sooner than later, have to accommodate our Ugandan sisters and brothers in Kenya because of insecurity in their country. It is, therefore, we, as Kenyans, to become seized what is

world. There is already international pressure going on and statements being made by peace lovers and democratization forces the world over, calling the attention of the world to the lack of democracy in Uganda.

His Excellency President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Chairman of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the 2016 General Elections in Uganda has already made it clear that nobody who believes in sanctity of democracy can put a stamp of approval on that election. The European Union (EU) made a similar statement, calling the attention of the world to the fact that the just concluded elections in Uganda, particularly the presidential elections were rigged, hollow and a sham.

Although the African Union (AU) and the regional group in the Great Lakes Region timidly approved of these elections as free and fair, we, a country, that is so proud of our 2010 Constitution that proclaims the universality of democracy and the equality of all men and women in this world and the right of every person to choose a Government of his own choice, is something that we must stand tall as Kenya and be counted among those who are rejecting the so-called democratic elections in Uganda. The elections are only democratic in so far as President Yoweri Museveni is concerned.

President Museveni himself is on record as saying that nobody should teach him about democracy. This is the kind of arrogance of the big man in Africa that should have been left behind.

Order, Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I stand guided. I will definitely honour your directions.

In the African scene, in the early 2000s when I was Minister for Planning and National Development, most African countries, indeed, all members of the AU, signed themselves to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) . The reason we acceded the APRM was because of the importance we attach to democracy in the new surge for good governance in our continent which is really needed for development.

Since then every African country which signed up to the APRM has been reviewed by their peers, including Uganda. If you read the report by the APRM, there is no doubt in my mind that all those reports, including the one on Kenya, lays emphasis to

nations. These reports also say that there is a very close correlation between good governance and development. African countries that have performed well in terms of development are those which respect good governance.

We are saying this is not to be paternalistic to the Ugandan people, but because we want to be brotherly to our Ugandan brothers and sisters. Something we share in common should not be sacrificed at the alter ego of dictatorship or big man syndrome. It is important too that we recognize the roles that certain countries have played in this continent to advise advanced democracy.

The recent elections in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Botswana and the pending election in South Africa make us proud. Since there are nations and Governments in African which have stood tall to defend and promote democracy, there is no need why in our region any Government should fall behind in the promotion and defence of democracy.

We, as members of the East African Community, should be brave enough to know too that in the East African Community there are standards of good governance that we have committed ourselves to and we should not allow any of our members to depart from. I brought this statement to the House because, at the moment, the rest of the world may judge us harshly if, indeed, what goes on in Uganda is allowed to continue and degenerates into blood that we have never seen before.

At the moment, the social media is filled with so many atrocities that have already been committed as a result of the fact that the people are resisting the rigging of the elections. However, the State is perpetuating its own repression on the people so that they may not speak. It was diabolical for the Government of Uganda to shut down social media during these elections. We know the role that social media has played to awaken the African people to the reality of democracy.

Freedom of expression and communication is enhanced by the social media. At times, I agree social media goes overboard, but nations and governments should establish rules and regulations to deals with this. However, taking drastic action of shutting down a major avenue of commination among the Ugandan people and between the Ugandan people and the world at large is undemocratic.

Further, arresting a leader of the opposition and stopping Mr. Besigye from going to the Electoral Commission to seek for results of an election shows very clearly that the victor is not the victor. The victor has become the victim of his own imagination that he is the victor.

These are issues that may visit us in this country. We, as Kenyans, must stand tall and resist that kind of development. I call upon the Government of Uganda to respect the democratic rights of her own people. I call upon the people of East Africa to respect the democratic rights of the people of Uganda. I call upon the International Community to come in solidarity with the people of Uganda. I call upon the United Nations Organization (UNO) whose charter was based on the freedom of all mankind, to come out boldly and tell the world that this is a member of the UNO which has abrogated the charter of the UNO. I call upon the AU not to be timid, but to stand with nations who

East African Community right here at home to do the same.

This Senate composes of men and women who have struggled for democracy and who know that democracy must be upheld in every nation. The Senate has distinguished itself to speak the truth and stand for the truth. I call upon this nation to lead the world in condemning what is going on in Uganda, in calling upon Ugandans to be strong enough to resist the creeping nature of a dictatorial regime that was going to be thrown away by a free and fair election. We, lovers of peace and democracy, will stand with them.

I beg to state.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I consulted with the Clerks-at-the-Table as to whether we can make complementary contributions to this Statement and they advised me that it is possible to do so.

Let us not be argumentative. I am sure Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o understood this because I cautioned him when he was beginning. He has done very well because I raised with him the issue of Standing Order No.90. I will not open this debate because---

(Sen. Wetangula spoke off-record) Sen. Wetangula, you sought a direction very respectfully and withdrew from the Table. That means that you accepted that there was going to be a direction. That is the direction I have given.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula): You are always fair, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Sen. Wetangula, it is not about fairness. I know that I am fair, but you also know that I am very firm. You sought a direction and I have given it. I will not allow you to debate this issue, but you can make a comment which does not touch on the debate on this issue.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula): Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for that fairness. Standing Order No.45(2)(a) that the distinguished Senator for Kisumu County made the statement under does not exclude other Senators with interest in the matter from making comments.

Secondly, Standing Order No. 45(4) limits the Senator making the statement to ten minutes. It does not say that the matter of that statement must be concluded in the ten minutes. The ten minutes is limited to the Senator making the statement. Other Senators can make statements on that statement within the discretion of the Chair. But more important, a precedent has been set by the Chair. Everytime statements are made or sought you allow other Senators to complement them. Equally important, as my distinguished senior in law you know the maxim “expressio unius est exclusio alterius.” The reason we have Standing Order No.46 within the context of that maxim is that it is about a statement of a personal nature. The House rules do not allow Members to debate a statement of a personal nature made by a colleague. For example, if one was assaulted or something happened, we leave it there. However, this is a statement of general topical concern.

I want to implore you to interpret the Standing Orders liberally as the Constitution requires, and allow those of us who have tremendous interest in this matter. In the difficult days of Uganda, my county housed more than 50,000 refugees from Uganda. We have a very keen interest to know what is happening in Uganda, so that we do not fall back to those dirty old days. Kindly, allow me a few minutes to say something.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I compliment you for opening up to Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o to ask for this Statement. It was a difficult decision. Having done so, may I point out two things: First, the Speaker of the Senate is a Senator and whenever he makes a statement through Communication, he normally allows us to intervene---

Order, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale! I know the difference in all these issues. The point I am making is that if you listened to me

You are always fair, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.Sen. Wetangula, it is not about fairness. I know that I am fair, but you also know that I am very firm. You sought a direction and I have given it. I will not allow you to debate this issue, but you can make a comment which does not touch on the debate on this issue.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, could you allow me to make a short comment?

You can comment because I have no issue with that, but it is important that as hon. Senators, in the same way you have your positions, you must accept the Chair who has the right to make a ruling under the provisions of the Standing Orders. It is important to respect that because from that, we can easily conduct business. Otherwise, you can raise points of orders until 4.00 p. m. and my ruling will stand. I appreciate if my ruling is wrong and that a different Chair can give a varied ruling. However, above all, I have made a ruling.

On a point of order I stand with humility to request the Chair under difficult circumstances to reconsider opening the Floor to some comments from the Members using the prerogative you are given under Standing Order No.1.

Secondly, when I sought the permission of the Clerks-At-the-Table to raise this matter, they advised me to do it under Standing Order No.45 (2) (a) . However, I requested whether other Senators could comment and the reaction was that they could.

importance of the matter and reconstruct your earlier ruling.

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o strengthens my position that I have taken because he has moved from Standing Order No.45 to Standing Order No.1. The reason I made that ruling - believing it is correct in the circumstances - is because it is novel. We cannot say because we have done it before, we must also do it. If it were that easy, Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o being an experienced Senator, would not have asked me to use my discretion under Standing Order No.1.

What we shall do is to await a finding by another Chair in the future to bring in the dynamism the Senate Minority Leader has talked about. But as of now, I have made a ruling.

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

Let me ask you a question before you raise your point of order. You are all giving it to your interpretation, are you not? The interpretation may come out contrary. All of you must agree on one interpretation. With a lot of humility, I have given one direction in order to bring the debate to a close because you have different views on the issue. The points of order you are raising might help the position in the future, but not today.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are guided by the Standing Orders in this House. Standing Order No.45 (4) provides for 10 minutes. It does not provide that it starts and ends within 10 minutes and that no other Senators shall make a contribution. Standing Order No.46 is different from Standing Order No.45 and both cannot be read and applied together. If this is a Personal Statement, we would be guided by the Standing Orders. However, because it is of a topical nature, there is no reason why we should not make a contribution. If allowed, we are not going to discuss about anybody, but to comment on issues that affect countries that neighbour Kenya. Sometimes we, as leaders, have the right to participate---

Order, Sen. Muthama! You are getting the Chair wrong. I am not being protective and that is where the Members are getting it wrong. You have said you will not mention names and I respect that. Understand me that I am not being a protectionist, but I am interpreting the Standing Orders.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Standing Order No.45 (2) (a) is specific because a Member sought a statement. There have been different opinions of Members, the Chair and other gurus of law. Such an issue would be appearing every so often because what Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'-Nyong'o sought will not be

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

it has happened in the past – take time to bring up a well thought-out position or ruling?

I am sure you are not suggesting I have not thought out what I have said.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am not challenging the Chair, but Standing Order No.45 (4) is not applicable in this matter. Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o did not issue the statement under Standing Order No.46. Tomorrow, you may transfer Stranding Order 70 to be read together with Standing Order 81 and tell us that, that is the ruling. The Standing Orders must be obeyed. We can read between the lines that what is being applied is not right.

I rest my case.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Standing Order No.45 (2) (a) is specific because a Member sought a statement. There have been different opinions of Members, the Chair and other gurus of law. Such an issue would be appearing every so often because what Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'-Nyong'o sought will not be

it has happened in the past – take time to bring up a well thought-out position or ruling?

I am sure you are not suggesting I have not thought out what I have said.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am looking at Standing Order No.45 specifically. There is no debate, but discussion and that is what we are requesting for.

Unfortunately, I have done my thought-out ruling. If you wish that a written ruling be done for the future, so that we do not rely on Standing Order Nos.1, 43 or 46, like Sen. (Dr.) Zani has done, then it will be clarified or a ruling will be made by the Speaker for future reference.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula) : On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have tremendous respect for the Chair, particularly yourself being my senior in law. I encourage you that the role of the Chair is to facilitate, but not to truncate debate. I urge you that we should not fall into the trap of what V.I. Lenin described as a mind that is like concrete mixed up, but permanently set.

Order, Sen. Wetangula! I will also not allow you to use that kind of language.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula) : Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I withdraw.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I am looking at Standing Order No.45 (3) and I just want to read a section that pre-empts the discussion. It states in part that:-

“..on the day on which the statement is proposed to be made, hand to the Speaker a written notification of the matter, but the Speaker may refuse to allow the request unless satisfied that the matter may be properly discussed in the Senate.”

That clearly suggests that under Standing Order No.45, there is provision for discussion only that the Speaker has to ensure that it is properly discussed.

From what other Members said, they can see the limitations quite clearly and they are happy to discuss within the confines. Therefore, you should allow for discussion and ensure that Members properly discuss. Standing Order No.45 provides for that and indicates quite clearly, that discussion can pursue from such a statement.

use that kind of language. For the benefit of every Senator sitting here and because you said I am fair, but also firm, you can make all the presentations you want to make but I will not change my position because we are not coming by way of an application for review. So, you can make all the arguments you want to make, but I have taken a position.

There are only two issues; we either accept Sen. (Eng.) Muriuki route where a ruling is going to be by a directive in writing given on this issue by the Speaker for the future or we accept that you raise points of orders for the whole afternoon although I have taken a position.

I heard you quoting V.I. Lenin and said that you hope I do not have a mind which is like concrete.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula): Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I did not say that about you.

The HANSARD is there and I listen, Sen. Wetangula. It is not that I do not listen. You quoted V.I. Lenin

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula):

So, basically, we are just wasting time.

According to your argument, is it true that discussion and debate, according to Standing Order No.46, are synonymous?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am looking at Standing Order No.45 specifically. There is no debate, but discussion and that is what we are requesting for. Unfortunately, I have done my thought-out ruling. If you wish that a written ruling be done for the future, so that we do not rely on Standing Order Nos.1, 43 or 46, like Sen. (Dr.) Zani has done, then it will be clarified or a ruling will be made by the Speaker for future reference. The Senate Minority Leader (

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have tremendous respect for the Chair, particularly yourself being my senior in law. I encourage you that the role of the Chair is to facilitate, but not to truncate debate. I urge you that we should not fall into the trap of what V.I. Lenin described as a mind that is like concrete mixed up, but permanently set. Order, Sen. Wetangula! I will also not allow you to use that kind of language. The Senate Minority Leader (

as much as he may have made a ruling to allow room not for debate, but for interventions. With your indulgence, that could still happen.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I withdraw.

You can even bring a substantive Motion and nobody will stop you. The Speaker will have no discretion, but to allow you

proceed under Standing Order No.90(2) which talks about a substantive Motion, nobody can stop you from doing so.

Next Order.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I did not say that about you.The HANSARD is there and I listen,

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to request for a statement pursuant to Standing Orders No.45 (2) (b) from the Chairperson of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations regarding an alleged assault of a police officer by one Captain Allister Brown in Kinangop, Nyandarua County on Sunday, 21st February, 2016.

In the statement, I would like the Chairman to explain:-

So, basically, we are just wasting time.

Let me finish, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. A matter under Standing Order No.45(2)(a) cannot possibly wait for a reasoned ruling then you allow us to debate because topical means now. The issue of elections in Uganda, you should go to social media and see how angry people are. We, as leaders of the people, are entitled to speak to this matter.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I listened to the last bit of interventions from my colleagues. As much as I came in late and found you had made a ruling, I thought we could also seek your indulgence as the Speaker, at times,

as much as he may have made a ruling to allow room not for debate, but for interventions. With your indulgence, that could still happen.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I agree with Sen. (Eng.) Muriuki that we need a written ruling on this issue, so that we remove doubt completely. If that is so, then, these points of orders that we are rising on could very well inform the decision that will be made.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, earlier I had risen to conclude by saying that your suggestion that Standing Order No.45 (4) prevents us from commenting on the point of order; you should review it because if the Standing Orders wanted that Senators should not comment, under Standing Order No.45, then, that should have been stated. I say this because when it was found out that there is need for Senators not to comment anything, it was stated in Standing Order No.46.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, I, therefore, appeal to you because the issue in Uganda is very serious because we do not intend to debate the Government of Uganda or the President elect, but comment on the election in Uganda. Do not wait for the long written decision, but instead you should rescind your decision. We can ride on this because if the topical issue was that arising from the election, refugees have started crossing into Busia, Malaba and Lwakhakha, you would not have waited. We would still have gone ahead and debated the issue.

I beg you. I am not going to change that position.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am informed that he is a Canadian.

His passport should be seized immediately - he can sneak out - so that he faces the full force of the law.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I join my fellow Senators to condemn this act. I want to register my disappointment by requesting the officer in charge to take action against the gentleman. This shows how violation against women is increasing. I want to say that as Kenyan women and women leaders, we cannot accept this. I want to thank our colleagues; male Senators who are joining us to condemn this act. We cry and ask for action to be taken so that justice may be seen to be done in this country.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in other countries, if a Kenyan is found committing such an act, it is taken seriously, but in Kenya, we take it lightly. It is time that Kenya stands as a country and stops playing with the people who come in and violate the rights of Kenyans as we watch. I condemn this act seriously.

Thank you.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to request for a statement pursuant to Standing Orders No.45 (2) (b) from the Chairperson of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations regarding an alleged assault of a police officer by one Captain Allister Brown in Kinangop, Nyandarua County on Sunday, 21st February, 2016.

In the statement, I would like the Chairman to explain:-

Asante, Bw. Naibu Spika. Ni hasira za kuona mama akipigwa na mtu ambaye hatumjui.

Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. It has really provoked us, especially the mothers of this country. It is total abuse of our integrity. I do not know whether somebody has been deported. I would even recommend that this person be deported because where he comes from, in Canada, they do not want to see a black person, and maybe he thought he was back in his homeland.

Order, Senator! I will not allow you to get there.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I say that it has really provoked us as Kenyan mothers and, more so, the family where that lady comes from because she is an officer in uniform, and if he could not respect our---

Sen. Kittony, you know you are seeking a statement. I understand where you are coming from, but you are seeking a statement.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you saw the video clip, this white gentleman – if he is gentleman at all – was physically assaulting a police officer on duty. With such glaring evidence, open and shut case. We do not want to hear that the matter is under investigation. It was obvious. I have seen a 411 flash that he has been dismissed. However, the consequence of a physical assault on a police officer is not a dismissal. He was not even a Government employee, but an employee of a private company.Can the Chairperson of the Committee bring the statement urgently? This should not wait for two weeks. As early as tomorrow, tell us:-

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I also ride on the statement. What happened in Nyandarua is despicable. We were embarrassed. As a woman, that case was and still is embarrassing. The action against this white man should be expedited as the Senate Minority Leader has said. We would also like to know how many flying hours he has as a pilot and how qualified he is.

Secondly, the language that he was using on that police woman, “Do your fucking job.” We, as a country, need to be told whether this guy is a Kenyan. He disrespected a woman in uniform and, therefore, the country. We are very embarrassed. We want to know if he has already been arrested. I have seen a 411 on investigations. In fact, we need him arrested today and not tomorrow. We hope this statement will be done and brought to this House as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. To add my voice to the concerns, I am one of the Kenyans who watched that in horror and disbelief. I am in support of the police officer herself and the general Kenyan population at large. We need to say it here very clearly that the prescription of the law and the offence of assault is clearly known. It does not require further interpretation that when you physically assault somebody, then your place is in jail.

Secondly, we also need to add to the questions as has been raised by Sen. Kittony. This is a statement of our national pride. I hope that gentleman – as it has been described, if he is a gentleman – is a Kenyan. If he is not, we should say categorically that he does not even meet a quarter of the regulations and requirements of somebody to qualify to hold a visa to stay and work in this country. So, his work permit should be withdrawn. He does not qualify to stay amongst the people of this country. He has no respect for us and our country. We need to say that clearly. If that is not done, we need to give notice that

“inside”. It is despicable.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. While I condemn this action by this person that I do not think is a gentleman as one of the Senator said, I want to add that while issuing a statement, urgent action be taken immediately because this person might not be a Kenyan. Most of these guys have dual citizenship---

An hon. Senator: He is a Canadian!

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am informed that he is a Canadian.

His passport should be seized immediately - he can sneak out - so that he faces the full force of the law.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I wanted to add my voice and pose one question; whether by now – I wish this Statement could be answered this afternoon – he has been arrested. We saw a statement from the Inspector General’s office requesting him to report to the nearest police station. The statement stated: -

“The suspect has subsequently been ordered to surrender to any nearest police station”.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is almost at his own discretion whether he wants to go to the nearest police station or not. That is not what we see happening to ordinary Kenyans when they have broken the law. So, all the questions that have been raised here must be answered in that statement and in a very direct manner without beating around the bush.

I want to stress that this point. I will say it in Kiswahili language; Iwe funzo kwa wengine wote ambao watataka kunyanyasa our ladies in uniform serving this country.

Order! Order, Senators! Sen.

Asante sana, Bw. Naibu Spika kwa kunipa nafasi hii ili niweze kuchangia. Tunajua kisheria kwamba kosa la kupiga mwanamke au mama si sheria hata kidogo. Hivi sasa, huyu jambazi ambaye ni rubani amechukua hatua ya kupiga askari wa taifa letu. Hili swala la mtu ambaye anachukua hatua mikononi mwake, kuweza pia kuadhibu askari, sisi twajiuliza wenyewe: Je, kama sisi tuko na sheria, ni kwa sababu gani huyu mtu bado anarandaranda katika nchi yetu? Je, tukisimama hapa, tunajivunia

kupigwa, na kila mtu nchini akaweza kuona katika runinga?

Bw. Spika, je, kama yule askari angekuwa mwanaume, angeweza kufanya kitendo kama hicho? La! Kama angekuwa kibonge kama ndugu yangu Sen. Karaba, je angeweza kufanya kitendo kile? Wangepambana pale pale. Lakini alichukua nafasi hiyo kwa sababu aliona ya kwamba yule ni mama ambaye hana uwezo.

Sisi tunashtumu kitendo hicho sana kwa sababu ni kitendo cha dharau kwa Wakenya wote. Ni kitendo ambacho hakifai kufanywa na mtu yeyote hapa nchini. Licha kwamba kimefanywa na mtu ambaye tunamuona rangi yake ikiwa ni tofauti, hatujali kama yeye ni Mkenya au la. Jambo la muhimu ni kuwa sheria lazima ifuate mkondo wake. Huyu mtu ashikwe, apelekwe ndani na aweze kufunguliwa mashtaka mara moja. Tunataka kuona ni Jaji yupi atakayechukua kesi hiyo kama atamwaachilia au kumhukumu. Hii ni kwa sababu Wakenya wote waliona kitendo hicho cha dharau kikifanyika wazi.

Huyu ni mtu wa kufungiwa korokoroni. Ikiwa si mwananchi wa Kenya, sheria pia inasema kwamba achukuliwe hatua na afungwe vile vile. Hatutaki kuona mabalozi wakiingilia kesi hii kwa sababu kitendo hiki cha dharau kimetendeka.

Bw. Naibu Spika, kitendo kama hiki kiliwahi kufanyika miaka mingi iliyopita. Tulishuhudia kitendo kama hicho katika Pwani. Dada zetu walikuwa wakifanya biashara katika ufuo wa bahari na mtalii mmoja aliyejifanya askari akamuua dada mmoja. Hatimaye, kesi hii haikuchuliwa kwa uzito. Mabalozi mbalimbali waliingilia kati na mtalii huyo akaachiliwa huru.

Kwa hiyo, katika kesi hii ni lazima askari wetu wafanye kazi bila kuingiliwa kati na mtu au ubalozi fulani. Ikiwa sheria hii inaweza kutumika kwa Mkenya, wembe ni ule ule. Ni lazima huyu jambazi aliyefanya kitendo hicho achukuliwe hatua mara moja.

Order, Senator! You know you are riding on somebody’s statement. Please, wind up. I hear where you are coming from, but wind up.

Asante, Bw. Naibu Spika. Ni hasira za kuona mama akipigwa na mtu ambaye hatumjui.

Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. It has really provoked us, especially the mothers of this country. It is total abuse of our integrity. I do not know whether somebody has been deported. I would even recommend that this person be deported because where he comes from, in Canada, they do not want to see a black person, and maybe he thought he was back in his homeland.

Order, Senator! I will not allow you to get there.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I say that it has really provoked us as Kenyan mothers and, more so, the family where that lady comes from because she is an officer in uniform, and if he could not respect our---

Sen. Kittony, you know you are seeking a statement. I understand where you are coming from, but you are seeking a statement.

from the National Security and Foreign Relations Committee? Sen. Kiraitu, is it you?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will ask the Chairman to bring the statement tomorrow. It is urgent. Sen. Murungi, did you want to contribute on this point?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. We are concluding on it.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know what Kenyans are feeling about this matter. Indeed, you remember the old case of somebody called Sandstrom way back in the 1970s. This looks like another Sandstrom case. We deserve respect. I felt bad when I saw the lady in uniform being pushed like a raia. If the matter goes unpunished, people will lose confidence in our system. I plead with the House to allow the Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations to have this matter better investigated and bring a full statement to this House. I do not think he can do that by tomorrow. I plead that he be given a little more time, so that he can give a comprehensive statement to this House. We need to be reasonable.

Sen. Murungi, are you a Member of that Committee?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am not a Member of the Committee, but the Chairman, Sen. Haji, is my friend.

He was here most of the afternoon.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Is the hon. Member in order to suggest that the matter should be investigated? An assault is a criminal offence and does not need investigation; the police just need to arrest. We do not need to spend the Committee’s time on investigation. That is a crime and the police should simply arrest.

Sen. Ndiema, did you want the Floor?

Yes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. This is an ugly incident. It would be of interest if we can also be told whether this person has a mother, wife or sister.

Order! Order, Senators! Sen.

cancelled the examination is because everybody passed. That is grossly contrary to the rules of natural justice. Nobody can be deprived of their right without being given a hearing and an opportunity to challenge that decision.

During the draconian days of baba na mama when such things happened, even the teacher whose subject or the head teacher of the school that has been affected, now leaves in fear that he will be arrested, charged or parents some of whom are quite ruffians, will invade and assault him to demand the rights of their children. The teacher is left helpless.

I encourage the distinguished proponent of the Bill not to limit the challenge to this unreasonable conduct and decision by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to the aggrieved candidates, but also expand it and give the institutions to challenge these decisions; so that, for example, if you are the principal of Hekima or Akili Mingi School and they cancel examinations of your class, you do not have to leave the plight to individual candidates. The school must have the right to challenge that decision so that the KNEC can say their bit and the school their bit.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in this country, as the late J.M. Kariuki said, we have 10 billionaires and 39 million poor people. At that time he used the word “beggars.” There are people who cannot even afford to travel; leave alone where you, Sen. (Dr.) Zani, Sen. Obure or I come from; they can jump on a bus overnight and by the next day they are here. However, in places like Kibish, Nadabal, North Horr, Maikona, Moyale and Mandera, people are struggling to live; and all of a sudden you are told that your examination results have been cancelled because of irregularities. Even the dream of such a child or parent coming to Nairobi to challenge this decision is a nightmare. I remember, as a young lawyer, I used to practice law in Mandera, Habaswein, Elwak and Garissa. You arrive there and people ask you: “How is Kenya?” because they did not believe they are in Kenya. So, we need to make it easy. Of course, now we have county governments. I hope they will be sufficiently responsible to help situations like these when they arise.

I would like to encourage Sen. (Dr.) Zani to appreciate that, while this tribunal under Clause 40(e) can be domiciled in Nairobi, they should also make it easy for Kenyans in far-flung areas to go and hear them from there. They can have their principal registry here. Sen. Obure should also plug this into the final Bill. The KNEC tribunal that we want to set up will be obligated to have a field office in every county so that aggrieved parties do not have to come to Nairobi or we do not tell them, “post on the web or email.” What is an email to a child in Kibish? You know the lies that Jubilee has visited on the children of Kenya about laptops, tablets and all manner of gadgets, and nothing has come. So, through the judicial system, the law now allows that you can file your court documents through soft copy but if you ask a child in some remote area of West Pokot what a soft copy means, he or she will not understand. I encourage Sen. Obure to address that.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the establishment of the National Examination Appeals Tribunal is good because we want a situation where there is a responsible quasi- judicial organ; what used to happen in the past is that, when schools are aggrieved in this manner, they, at the very least, made appeals to the Minister. The Minister would just go to his office one morning and call his officers and say, dismiss all of them, without

February 23, 2016 SENATE DEBATES THE KENYA NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL (AMENDMENT) (NO.2) BILL (SENATE BILL NO. 14 OF 2015)

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this important Bill by Sen. Obure that addresses the whole issue of setting up a tribunal. It is an amendment to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) Act.

There have been various cases of cheating and the then Cabinet Secretary of Education Prof. Kaimenyi gave figures. In a report on the results of 2015, he alluded that 2,975 cases of cheating had been noticed. Prior to that, in 2013, 3,012 cases of cheating had been reported. The Senators who spoke before me talked about the worry that is consuming this country in terms of the cases of cheating. It is for this reason that the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has been so strict that sometimes it cancels result. When students cheat, it means the grades that they get are not theirs. A student should be able to read, understand, articulate, answer the questions and then get a grade. The Council has reason to be worried about cases of cheating and bring provisions to ensure that cheating does not take place.

In some cases, however, results in some schools have been cancelled even when some of the students did not cheat. Indeed, there are cases where one student could have been sitting in one room and the other 49 or 50 students were sitting in another room and then all their results are cancelled. Definitely, this well supervised student was not part of the case. The Council has been trying to address all this.

Section 45 of the Act specifies the conditions under which the results can be nullified. Where the Council is satisfied that there is any sort of irregularities in the course of the exam, it can suspend or nullify the examination. Where the results have been obtained by any irregular means, the Council can nullify those results. The Council can conduct investigations on results and come up with conclusions. Investigations can be conducted and witnesses called. That is provided for in the principal Act. The amendment to this Act seeks to introduce the idea of a tribunal. In the principal Act the force and the authority of the Council is completely automatic and supreme. Once the Council has made a decision, there is no recourse for that student to later on come and say: “This and that are my circumstances.” That is the reasoning behind this particular amendment; that a tribunal is created.

In the New Part 4 (a) , the National Examination Appeals Tribunal is proposed so that it can handle these specific components. We need to be careful because at the end of the day, the Council was doing its work up to a particular point and validly so. We have cases of students who may want the results to be relooked at, especially where they have

causes anyone to go through that pain must bear the greatest responsibility or to use the new phrases being used, those are the persons of interest. Those are the likes of Waiguru, you look for in as situation such as this, so that you deal with them firmly and squarely.

Clause40(K) says:- “The Tribunal shall have the power to summon witnesses, take evidence on oath or affirmation and order the production of documents.” That will help the tribunal because when people are mentioned then they must be called and eventually the tribunal is likely to find the genesis of the theft of the examination and deal with the culprit.

Clause 40(J)(2) says:- “In any proceedings under this part, the Tribunal shall act without undue regard to technicalities.”

That clause should end there. So that you remove; “… and shall not be strictly bound by the rules of evidence.” There will definitely be some rules of evidence there about hearsay, malice and all manner of things. Even the people we want to deal with, we must give them fair hearing, natural justice and so on. You can only find fairness and natural justice within the confines of rules of evidence. For example, somebody can just walk to the tribunal and say that they saw Sen. Karaba and thought he looked like a thief and, therefore, he stole examinations. Evidence must be called and within the rules.

I encourage Sen. Obure to stop that clause at technicalities. In fact, that would then be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution. That Kenyans can access justice without undue regard to technicalities that can lock them away.

On Clause 40(O), I encourage the sponsor of the Bill not to leave this open because this Senate has suffered immensely where the Government does things that serve them only. When something good comes, because it has come from another quarter, they do not deal with them in a manner we expect. I encourage Sen. Obure, at the Committee of the Whole, to change Clause 40(O) to obligate the CS to make the rules for regulating the practices and procedure of the tribunal within 60 days of assent to the Bill. This is to make sure the Bill does not end up with the CS and keeps it away for two years because he is busy with other things that he thinks are more important.

We are not passing this law in vain. Once it is assented, he must prepare regulations within 60 days. Under the new constitutional dispensation, those regulations must find their way into the House as delegated legislation that we then can deal with. I encourage Sen. Obure to liaise with Sen. Karaba to follow it up so that when those rules are being drafted, we can have an input to make it easier and faster. The rules will invariably come to the Standing Committee on Education that will then process them to bring them to the House.

On the complaints by the aggrieved children or candidates, I want an express provision, that those who are aggrieved and come to the tribunal for justice, should access it for free. This is because I do not know of any student who has the capacity and ability to steal and cheat in an examination. It is crooked third parties who always help them to

place and time as the tribunal may appoint. This is will be a national tribunal and many people will want to be heard. If we have the tribunal moving so much from place to place or county to county, people would have a problem finding out where they are seated at a particular time. The idea of devolving it to different counties is a good one but I think it would be better to have sub-committees sitting at various locations for a specific issue. For example, if a particular school in Baringo County has their results cancelled, then the tribunal can go to investigate that issue in Baringo. I want this tribunal to have a level of regularity that allows people to quickly put their issues across. I fear that the ad hoc nature of this tribunal moving from one place to another might make it not have regularity.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the tribunal’s mandate is wide but primarily they will be looking at the cancellation of results to allow for more investigation. It is giving 14 days for registering a complaint. This is ample time. We need to put a very clear caveat and caution about what this tribunal is going to do. I know that some Kenyans are going to misinterpret the work of the tribunal by thinking that if someone has a mean grade of C, he or she can request the tribunal to change it to a mean grade of A. I know that many students tend to complain and think that they have been downgraded. This is not a tribunal that will be looking at results relooking or remarking.

It will be important to put some cost element to it so that when someone presents a case to the tribunal, it should be vetted as an important matter. If there is some cost implication, it would reduce cases that are not very strong. We have to be careful because on the other hand, we do not want a poor student, who cannot afford the tribunal being unable to have their cases prosecuted. Therefore, some sort of due diligence needs to be done so that we can decipher the actual key cases. In the tribunal, it will be clear because we are talking about exam results that have been nullified or cancelled and cases of cheating. We might want to think about another forum where people can address the issue of remarking of examinations. This happens, for example, in the universities but there are conditions to be fulfilled. This tribunal is not about remarking but cancellation.

A person who is aggrieved and is a minor, the application will be done by a parent. This is good so that the parent can do due diligence and provide the right information. There is a provision for the tribunal to make a decision in 30 days. This will give the tribunal enough time to do investigations, come up with findings and present them. Let us improve on this amendment and give the details of what it will entail. What are we going to do if somebody is not satisfied even after the tribunal has pronounced itself on the appeal? Are we going to open up and say that there is another forum that somebody can follow up? Are we saying that the decision by the tribunal is final, if so, we need to have a sense of confidence and nobody needs to worry. This is going to be achieved because if you look at Clause 40(k), a process for verification has been put into place.

Sen. (Dr.) Zani, I am adding you one minute to conclude.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. We need to think through this very carefully so that we can know whether we have a budget for this. I do not want to over-indulge and thank you for the one minute. With those few remarks, I support this amendment Bill. The Senate Minority Leader (

school which is not known beating a school which excels annually. The value added to the academic performance will not be as much as another school which admits students with 200 out of 500 marks. For example, for you to be admitted to Alliance High School where most of us went, you need 400 marks and above. As a result, we expect a student in Alliance High School to do well when the results are released. However, you will find a school that admits students with between 150 and 200 marks getting As. That is suspicious because we have to find out the value addition of the school to the students, and moreso, the teachers.

Therefore, this Bill will address various forms of cheating – because they are there – and what will happen when cheating takes place.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula): On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker. I do not know if I heard the distinguished Senator right. Is he in order to try to justify that a student in Alliance High School is bound to do better than a student in rural schools? Some of us went through schools whose names you cannot even remember and we are what we are because we worked hard. Even a child with average marks can go to a rural school and still excel. Is the Chairman in order to subtly convolute the contents of the Bill and try to justify what we were trying to move away from?

Senator, please clarify. What exactly did you mean?

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker. Did Sen. Karaba refer to Sen. Wetangula as Wetangula? There is a Standing Order that clearly indicates how Senators should be referred to.

Sen. Karaba, I heard very well.

Order Senator! You must refer to him appropriately.

cancelled the examination is because everybody passed. That is grossly contrary to the rules of natural justice. Nobody can be deprived of their right without being given a hearing and an opportunity to challenge that decision.

During the draconian days of baba na mama when such things happened, even the teacher whose subject or the head teacher of the school that has been affected, now leaves in fear that he will be arrested, charged or parents some of whom are quite ruffians, will invade and assault him to demand the rights of their children. The teacher is left helpless.

I encourage the distinguished proponent of the Bill not to limit the challenge to this unreasonable conduct and decision by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to the aggrieved candidates, but also expand it and give the institutions to challenge these decisions; so that, for example, if you are the principal of Hekima or Akili Mingi School and they cancel examinations of your class, you do not have to leave the plight to individual candidates. The school must have the right to challenge that decision so that the KNEC can say their bit and the school their bit.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in this country, as the late J.M. Kariuki said, we have 10 billionaires and 39 million poor people. At that time he used the word “beggars.” There are people who cannot even afford to travel; leave alone where you, Sen. (Dr.) Zani, Sen. Obure or I come from; they can jump on a bus overnight and by the next day they are here. However, in places like Kibish, Nadabal, North Horr, Maikona, Moyale and Mandera, people are struggling to live; and all of a sudden you are told that your examination results have been cancelled because of irregularities. Even the dream of such a child or parent coming to Nairobi to challenge this decision is a nightmare. I remember, as a young lawyer, I used to practice law in Mandera, Habaswein, Elwak and Garissa. You arrive there and people ask you: “How is Kenya?” because they did not believe they are in Kenya. So, we need to make it easy. Of course, now we have county governments. I hope they will be sufficiently responsible to help situations like these when they arise.

I would like to encourage Sen. (Dr.) Zani to appreciate that, while this tribunal under Clause 40(e) can be domiciled in Nairobi, they should also make it easy for Kenyans in far-flung areas to go and hear them from there. They can have their principal registry here. Sen. Obure should also plug this into the final Bill. The KNEC tribunal that we want to set up will be obligated to have a field office in every county so that aggrieved parties do not have to come to Nairobi or we do not tell them, “post on the web or email.” What is an email to a child in Kibish? You know the lies that Jubilee has visited on the children of Kenya about laptops, tablets and all manner of gadgets, and nothing has come. So, through the judicial system, the law now allows that you can file your court documents through soft copy but if you ask a child in some remote area of West Pokot what a soft copy means, he or she will not understand. I encourage Sen. Obure to address that.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the establishment of the National Examination Appeals Tribunal is good because we want a situation where there is a responsible quasi- judicial organ; what used to happen in the past is that, when schools are aggrieved in this manner, they, at the very least, made appeals to the Minister. The Minister would just go to his office one morning and call his officers and say, dismiss all of them, without

carrying that they hurt Kenyans. Therefore, we need a quasi-judicial independent body that can deal with this.

Regarding Clause 40(a), I encourage Sen. Obure, at the Committee of the Whole, to expand a little Clause 40(a)(2), the composition of the tribunal. We have many schools; in fact, the best schools in this country are sponsored by religious organisations. For example, my church, the Catholic Church has a hand in many schools. We also have Protestant and Quaker schools. We do not have to bring in everybody but we should give those religious based organisations that sponsor schools a chance to have a representative or two because their focus on the morality or otherwise of this draconian behaviour may be much better than some of the ordinary mortals so that we can have the Catholic fraternity with one and other denominations also bringing in one on a rotational basis; so that if the non-Catholic bring a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA), next time they can bring a Quaker, an Anglican and so on.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would also like to encourage that in Clause (2)(c), which states “one person jointly nominated by the unions for the time being” – this will raise hell - the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) on one side and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) on one side. They will never agree to nominate one person. They will each say they are aggrieved differently. Therefore, I encourage the sponsor of the Bill to expand that to have a representative of KUPPET and KNUT respectively. For avoidance of doubt, I would have gone even further and just said, either the secretary general or the chairman of whichever union so that you also reduce the frictions within the union on arriving as to who should be representing them because the Secretary General of KUPPET and the Secretary General of KNUT are full time employees of their unions and can join in and be part of this so that they can represent the interests of their teachers who are accused of fiddling with exams.

We should also have a person representing the interests of parents. I do not know how we will arrive at this. There is a friend of mine called Mr. Musau Ndunda who has been quite vocal about parents’ issues; the Ministry has declared his association unlawful and told him that he will have nothing to do with education. If the parents association is not recognised by the Government, it will become very difficult, any parent will walk in and say, “I am here, I represent the parents,” but he or she has only one child. So, one cannot come and pretend that he or she is representing parents. There must be some structure. We need to see the distinguished Senator for Kirinyaga who is walking away, engage the Ministry and make sure that the parents’ union is recognised so that it can help.

That is right. The Senate Minority Leader (

composition right, we will miss division of this Bill. Secondly is the cost of appealing. If we make it too expensive, then we might not as well have put it there. Who are the people who appeal? It is the aggrieved parents and students, most of whom you will find that they have outstanding school fees balances which in the first place, they are unable to settle. So, if you put provisions that it should come at a high cost, it means that it will be inaccessible.The last limb is the timeframe within which the dispute will be resolved, which is a critical thing.

Allow me to address those three limbs by suggesting the following amendments on the Bill.

I urge Sen. Obure to look at Clause 40(a)(2) The Tribunal Composition. In

degrees. Most of our preachers in our churches call themselves many names such as cannons, apostles, doctors, as so on yet they have no degrees.

I have a friend who was preaching at a bus stop, and after three years he was an apostle. After a few years later, he became an evangelist. After a few years, he became a doctor. I kept on asking him where he was getting the titles. The titles may not make a lot of sense. However, they carry them and their congregations revere them. Therefore, we should just have a degree or its equivalent in terms of experience. If my priest has been guiding a parish for the last 20 years, he is probably better than a five year graduate in many ways. They have got those feeling of the children of the people they lead. They see the pain. Sometimes people do not come to us, leaders, to tell us their problems, but they go to those priests and tell them what they go through. I, therefore, encourage Sen. Obure to think about that.

Clause 40(A)(4)(5) and (6) says as follows:- “(4) “The nominating bodies under subsection (2) shall nominate and submit the names of at least two nominees, one a man, one a woman to the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for appointment.

causes anyone to go through that pain must bear the greatest responsibility or to use the new phrases being used, those are the persons of interest. Those are the likes of Waiguru, you look for in as situation such as this, so that you deal with them firmly and squarely.

Clause40(K) says:- “The Tribunal shall have the power to summon witnesses, take evidence on oath or affirmation and order the production of documents.” That will help the tribunal because when people are mentioned then they must be called and eventually the tribunal is likely to find the genesis of the theft of the examination and deal with the culprit.

Clause 40(J)(2) says:- “In any proceedings under this part, the Tribunal shall act without undue regard to technicalities.”

That clause should end there. So that you remove; “… and shall not be strictly bound by the rules of evidence.” There will definitely be some rules of evidence there about hearsay, malice and all manner of things. Even the people we want to deal with, we must give them fair hearing, natural justice and so on. You can only find fairness and natural justice within the confines of rules of evidence. For example, somebody can just walk to the tribunal and say that they saw Sen. Karaba and thought he looked like a thief and, therefore, he stole examinations. Evidence must be called and within the rules.

I encourage Sen. Obure to stop that clause at technicalities. In fact, that would then be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution. That Kenyans can access justice without undue regard to technicalities that can lock them away.

On Clause 40(O), I encourage the sponsor of the Bill not to leave this open because this Senate has suffered immensely where the Government does things that serve them only. When something good comes, because it has come from another quarter, they do not deal with them in a manner we expect. I encourage Sen. Obure, at the Committee of the Whole, to change Clause 40(O) to obligate the CS to make the rules for regulating the practices and procedure of the tribunal within 60 days of assent to the Bill. This is to make sure the Bill does not end up with the CS and keeps it away for two years because he is busy with other things that he thinks are more important.

We are not passing this law in vain. Once it is assented, he must prepare regulations within 60 days. Under the new constitutional dispensation, those regulations must find their way into the House as delegated legislation that we then can deal with. I encourage Sen. Obure to liaise with Sen. Karaba to follow it up so that when those rules are being drafted, we can have an input to make it easier and faster. The rules will invariably come to the Standing Committee on Education that will then process them to bring them to the House.

On the complaints by the aggrieved children or candidates, I want an express provision, that those who are aggrieved and come to the tribunal for justice, should access it for free. This is because I do not know of any student who has the capacity and ability to steal and cheat in an examination. It is crooked third parties who always help them to

Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Bill by Sen. Obure. Let me echo the words of Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and the words of the former President of South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela who once said education is a great equalizer. The child of a President and a child of a peasant farmer, whether from Bungoma or Uasin Gishu, are able to come together and reason. It is only education that brings them together.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, while those words are true, we are today witnessing devastating effects of cheating in examinations. First, the quality of education in this country has kept on coming down because of exam malpractices where students are cheating in primary school during the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) . We end up producing graduates

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for recognising that I should say something about this Bill. The Bill was before our Committee sometime back and we discussed it exhaustively and, in fact, this morning, we had a discussion pertaining to its content. It is important to note why the Bill came around this time.

The KNEC has been in existence since the time we were in school. Some of us sat an exam called East African Advanced Certificate of Education. That was an examination which was done by students from the three countries in East Africa namely Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Secretary of the East Africa Examination Council then, was Mr. Kiwanuka. We used to be trained as examiners in Kampala or Entebbe. The issue of collusion and cheating is wrong. It dates back to 1960s and 1970s. However, in the recent past, it has become rampant and a practice in most Kenyan schools.

When the KNEC Act was enacted that repealed the East Africa Examination Council Act, Kenyans found it easy to penetrate to these offices to get access to information which otherwise would be important to gauge and examine students so that they can move to the next level. What it takes is that a student will be examined every other time in whichever class they are in by administering continuous assessment tests

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this Bill and to thank Sen. Obure for having sought a way out of this serious situation. We all know the

that we are living in, it gives one a head-start in terms of a better living. Maybe that is one of the reasons some people are trying to get good certificates which they have not worked for.

When cheating occurs it is only the student who is penalized, yet it could involve many actors. With this kind of a tribunal, if the student is to defend his or herself, then, the other faceless actors who have been benefiting out of this social ill will also be unmasked. We will know who are actually behind this scheme. Every year when it comes to examinations time the main news item everywhere in Kenya is cheating.

Cheating happens because of what is attached to the academic certificate. Even the person who has not worked for it would like to have a good certificate, so as to move to the next level or secure a good job. Examination cheating is rampant because, unlike before, everybody would like to get good grades without working for them. There is also need to check the teachers. Some of them relax and do not cover the syllabus because they know that at the end of the day, there will be a way to cheat. They can compensate their lack of coverage of the syllabus by assisting the students cheat.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are other actors who are not getting punished, like teachers and businessmen who will try to get hold of examination papers, whether or not they are genuine. Due to the anxiety of the students, they will buy whatever they will come across as examination papers. This is rampant during the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. It also happens in the universities and that is why of late there are cases of projects and thesis being prepared and sold in River Road. Since there are people who are ready to buy, Kenyans have now become experts in coming up with thesis and projects for undergraduate. One will just task somebody in River Road to do the work for him or her and then they submit something which is not their original work, all in the name of getting a good degree, so that one can get a job which they cannot perform.

Currently, the students who are victims have no recourse. When their examination results are cancelled, they have to wait and repeat them later. Even if they are innocent, they have nowhere to go and defend or declare their innocence so that they can get their certificate. So, this is a timely Bill which gives the few innocent ones justice through this kind of a tribunal. In some cases, you will find a whole class disqualified in a subject. Is it possible that all of them cheated and no one was innocent?

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I concur with the Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale on the issue of the composition of the tribunal. We also need to have the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to defend itself as to why it cancelled those results. The issue of the private schools is necessary because they have always had problems. Even when students are placed in secondary schools, those from private schools are always disadvantaged. In this case, the teachers from the private schools cannot trust their counterparts from public schools to decide on their fate. It is, therefore, necessary.

Clause 40(I) talks about the timeframe where one has to launch a complaint with the tribunal within 14 days from the date of decision of the KNEC. I understand that to mean that it is from the day the examination results are released. Somebody from Mandera County cannot get the results and travel to Nairobi within 14 days to come and

amended to increase it to at least 30 days. This is because, at that time, there is euphoria of examinations results being released. It is better if enough time is given to launch complaints. That will give each and every Kenyan a fair period to submit their complaint and they will not be time barred.

I beg to support the Bill and hope that this will be our way out for the few innocent. All in all, cheating is rampant and is eroding our education system. Therefore, cheating has to be brought to a stop. This could be one way of knowing the Kenyan who benefits out of it. Many of our children are losing their academic lives through this kind of cheating scheme by some people who are trying to make money. If there is no way of catching these people and punishing them, I am sure that they will get bolder and become more sophisticated. This will lead to eroding the Kenya education system.

I beg to support.

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker. I do not know if I heard the distinguished Senator right. Is he in order to try to justify that a student in Alliance High School is bound to do better than a student in rural schools? Some of us went through schools whose names you cannot even remember and we are what we are because we worked hard. Even a child with average marks can go to a rural school and still excel. Is the Chairman in order to subtly convolute the contents of the Bill and try to justify what we were trying to move away from?Senator, please clarify. What exactly did you mean?

Madam Temporary Speaker, I did not even allude to what my friend, Wetangula, is saying. What I was trying to suggest – he might have heard me wrong – is that---

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker. Did Sen. Karaba refer to Sen. Wetangula as Wetangula? There is a Standing Order that clearly indicates how Senators should be referred to.

Sen. Karaba, I heard very well.

Order Senator! You must refer to him appropriately.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to refer to Sen. Wetangula as the distinguished Senator for Bungoma, a presidential candidate in 2017, I wish him all the best and good luck.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we are discussing very serious issues. I also want to tell Members the root causes of cheating, how it can be detected and what can happen after cheating because cheating is a process. It could involve the material smuggled and that is what I said earlier, it could involve the teachers themselves particularly in practical subjects like Physics and Chemistry, it could involve headteachers or the County Directors of Education officers (CDEs) who are in charge of schools in various counties because they may want their counties to be ranked among the top. That is the reason we do not support ranking of schools because it will try to prove that some schools were not even there. Other schools will want to be known when results are released. Therefore,

cheating.

What happens, therefore, is that somebody will be admitted to Form One through cheating. Along the way, they may find it rough. The person may either commit suicide or transfer to another school because of failure to cope up with the standards of the school he or she was initially admitted to. The same thing may happen in the university. A boy may qualify for a certain course in a certain university through cheating and enrolled to a very serious course like medicine, law, engineering or architecture. He may not cope with the speed of other students who never cheated. As a result of that, he may drop the course or be discontinued. These are the dangers we may face. We have seen young fellows who commit suicide feeling that they should not continue with life. Therefore, they can easily terminate their lives.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank Sen. Karaba for the information. However, my understanding is that the person nominated to sit in this tribunal is one nominated jointly by the associations representing the interests of the parents. That is what I was talking about. We are all parents and even the person appointed under Clause 2 (a) is a parent. However, he or she is not sitting to represent parents. He or she is sitting to represent the appointing authority who we will decide whether it is the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) or the Ombudsman as has been suggested by Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale. I feel that we need to replace the Association of Parents and get someone else who is impartial to this matter.

composition right, we will miss division of this Bill. Secondly is the cost of appealing. If we make it too expensive, then we might not as well have put it there. Who are the people who appeal? It is the aggrieved parents and students, most of whom you will find that they have outstanding school fees balances which in the first place, they are unable to settle. So, if you put provisions that it should come at a high cost, it means that it will be inaccessible.The last limb is the timeframe within which the dispute will be resolved, which is a critical thing.

Allow me to address those three limbs by suggesting the following amendments on the Bill.

I urge Sen. Obure to look at Clause 40(a)(2) The Tribunal Composition. In

proposed amendments on the composition.The next thing is on the cost. I would like you to go to Clause 40(l)(4) and add 40(l)(5), and provide that:-“The appeals shall be free.” This will provide that the appeals are for free.Then, I propose that you go to the next page, 214. After 40(o) I propose that we add 40(p) and we provide:“The decisions of the tribunal must be made within a reasonable time frame not too long to leave to aggrieved parties in limbo.” Those are the specific amendments that I wanted to suggest on this Bill. Allow me to make the following three running comments. The first one is the issue of ranking in both primary and secondary schools. I insist that if it is not through this legislation – I do not see why not – we provide that ranking of the performance of students, schools, sub-counties and counties across the nation must be by law.

It is not the school that performs, but the students. We must give equal chance to every child of this country to make a difference.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I beg to support and hope that the necessary amendments will be included at the Committee of the Whole stage.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Kenya National Examinations Council (Amendment) (No.2) Bill (Senate Bill No. 14 of 2015) . I recall that students from Maranda High School suffered because of examination cheating. This happened in the computer examination. We need to interrogate whether the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) at that time had mechanisms of understanding that exams done by computer can bring other issues.

How do you then verify that the students cheated knowing that it is not done on paper where a student writes his or her own examination but this is a computer? Therefore, you will find identical marks; either all students getting good grades or failing.

Having said that---

Yes. The purpose of an examination is to rank.

The purpose of an examination is to rank. Even in medical school where we thought, we were all more or less very close to par, we were still ranked. All of us had qualified for Medical School at the University of Nairobi (UoN) but you would still find number one and the last one.

This number one and the last one gave the medical school an opportunity to identify those students who would get scholarships and so on. I am glad that I am addressing a House where we have young lecturers like Sen. Murkomen who has suddenly become quiet because of the new office that he has been offered.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, ranking is good. I want to go further and insist that we should demand for ranking of our universities. We now have so many universities. If you go to Britain, they will tell you the best universities, the second tier and the worst so that when you are choosing where your child should go, especially given that today parents are starting to pay for privately sponsored students, it is important that we rank our universities so that when a child is studying at a certain university and they are paying the same amount of school fees like another university, there should be justification as opposed to where another is asking for more money.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have seen certain universities where the school fees is lower for privately sponsored children than at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) . It simply means that these people are in business, they are not keen on training children, they want to levy fees as low as possible so as to fill their theatres and balance their books.

The second is the issue of admission to Form One. I want to make this remark because I listened to the Senator for Kirinyaga and I was not too sure whether he was not going there. It is important that we insist that until such a time that the national Government will have stabilized all public schools so that they have an equal number of teachers and the same facilities like private schools, we should still cushion children from public schools because when you open them to competition with children from

institutions.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, finally, I want to speak to the issue of the cost of paying school fees at the university. At the university, we have the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) which is doing a good job. With KUCCPS admissions, education is reasonably affordable. However, the children who qualify for this are usually children who got grades A, A-, B+ and B. But children who get grades B-, C+ and C are still qualified for university but they have a challenge of paying school fees. Now that an attempt is being made by the national Government through the National Assembly to streamline the former Constituency Development Fund (CDF) because it has now been reserved for only national projects, I propose that 50 per cent of the money in the new look CDF be reserved for bursaries for children who have qualified for university but have not qualified to benefit from HELB.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, changing society is through educating people. That is why you will find a son of a chang’aa brewer from Ikolomani will later on come and sit on the same table with a child who schooled at St. Marys’ School in Nairobi. Education is a social equalizer. More importantly, we have difficult areas in this country. We have areas in Turkana. You go to Chalbi Desert, for example, how can a child from there compete with a child who goes to schools in Nairobi and be able to be number one? It is completely out of this world. So, through these funds that have been made available through the new look CDF, we need to go for those children so that Kenya can be a Kenya of not just young people but young educated people.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I was giving a speech to students at Moi University three Fridays ago. One thing that I went to provoke the children with was that what is becoming of Kenya today. The pride and premium that we had put on education - thanks to the guidance that we got from elder graduates like Sen. Wetangula and so on – is gone. Now, no child in the university is taking pride in academic excellence. Instead, they are saying that they want to finish university quickly and go make money. I can see another young lecturer Sen. Melly is here. They would like to change and go back to the original honorable way of approaching success in life such that young people do not rush to complete school and go and make money but they should go and earn money. To earn money means that you can go in the law firm of Orengo & Co Advocates---

With those few remarks, I support.

Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Bill by Sen. Obure. Let me echo the words of Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and the words of the former President of South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela who once said education is a great equalizer. The child of a President and a child of a peasant farmer, whether from Bungoma or Uasin Gishu, are able to come together and reason. It is only education that brings them together.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, while those words are true, we are today witnessing devastating effects of cheating in examinations. First, the quality of education in this country has kept on coming down because of exam malpractices where students are cheating in primary school during the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) . We end up producing graduates

deliver on those courses which they specialized in at the university.

Secondly, it has made the cost of education expensive. You will recall that if a parent today pays school fees, if this student cheats in Form One and he manages to go through to Form Two and it happens that he is caught cheating in this exam, he can be expelled from school. This means that he will spend more years in school. If he or she was supposed to finish the programme, for example, in four years, he may take six years. This is going to be expensive for the parent.

Thirdly, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, is the issue of the KNEC. Over time, I think the KNEC has completely failed to ensure that they do away with this problem of exam cheating. I think it is timely that this Bill is now with us to ensure that we have a tribunal that is going to be in charge of the issues of exam cheating. This tribunal, once formed, will ensure that the number of problems and challenges that were faced by the KNEC, because of the broad perspective of what it does, will only be limited to issues to do with exam malpractices, irregularities and cheating.

This tribunal will be limited to issues to do with examination malpractices. The same tribunal will also be fair to students because there will be room for them to appeal. If a student thinks that there was no fairness, this Bill provides that he or she can apply through a tribunal, so that he or she can be heard the second time.

Cheating in examinations has weakened the education system in our country. While we appreciate that the 8-4-4 system has contributed to the success and development of this country, through examination cheating, the system has been weakened. Students cheat and get away with it until they graduate. You cannot distinguish a student who worked hard and passed the exams and one who cheated and got away with it. Both students could get first class honours degrees. This has completely weakened the education system in this country.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I said earlier, education is supposed to transform the lives of people. It is supposed to change the attitudes and impact right skills on individuals for them to make decisions, work and deliver on exactly what they specialized in. That is not the case because of cheating. We now have young men and women who have no capacity to deliver, even after going through high school, university and tertiary colleges. Most of them cannot deliver on any job that they are given, because they cheated in examinations right from high school to college level.

I want to congratulate the Senator for bringing this Bill. We need to put checks on our system and come up with the best strategy to end examination cheating. Otherwise, if this continues, in the coming years, we will produce people who cannot even say their names. We will end up having people who cannot defend what they studied or deliver on anything, even after wasting a lot of time in school.

Once again, I thank the Mover of this Bill and hope that we will get the necessary support to ensure that this Bill is enacted. We want to see its implementation and our education system changing for the betterment of our country.

I support.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this Bill and to thank Sen. Obure for having sought a way out of this serious situation. We all know the

that we are living in, it gives one a head-start in terms of a better living. Maybe that is one of the reasons some people are trying to get good certificates which they have not worked for.

When cheating occurs it is only the student who is penalized, yet it could involve many actors. With this kind of a tribunal, if the student is to defend his or herself, then, the other faceless actors who have been benefiting out of this social ill will also be unmasked. We will know who are actually behind this scheme. Every year when it comes to examinations time the main news item everywhere in Kenya is cheating.

Cheating happens because of what is attached to the academic certificate. Even the person who has not worked for it would like to have a good certificate, so as to move to the next level or secure a good job. Examination cheating is rampant because, unlike before, everybody would like to get good grades without working for them. There is also need to check the teachers. Some of them relax and do not cover the syllabus because they know that at the end of the day, there will be a way to cheat. They can compensate their lack of coverage of the syllabus by assisting the students cheat.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are other actors who are not getting punished, like teachers and businessmen who will try to get hold of examination papers, whether or not they are genuine. Due to the anxiety of the students, they will buy whatever they will come across as examination papers. This is rampant during the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. It also happens in the universities and that is why of late there are cases of projects and thesis being prepared and sold in River Road. Since there are people who are ready to buy, Kenyans have now become experts in coming up with thesis and projects for undergraduate. One will just task somebody in River Road to do the work for him or her and then they submit something which is not their original work, all in the name of getting a good degree, so that one can get a job which they cannot perform.

Currently, the students who are victims have no recourse. When their examination results are cancelled, they have to wait and repeat them later. Even if they are innocent, they have nowhere to go and defend or declare their innocence so that they can get their certificate. So, this is a timely Bill which gives the few innocent ones justice through this kind of a tribunal. In some cases, you will find a whole class disqualified in a subject. Is it possible that all of them cheated and no one was innocent?

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I concur with the Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale on the issue of the composition of the tribunal. We also need to have the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to defend itself as to why it cancelled those results. The issue of the private schools is necessary because they have always had problems. Even when students are placed in secondary schools, those from private schools are always disadvantaged. In this case, the teachers from the private schools cannot trust their counterparts from public schools to decide on their fate. It is, therefore, necessary.

Clause 40(I) talks about the timeframe where one has to launch a complaint with the tribunal within 14 days from the date of decision of the KNEC. I understand that to mean that it is from the day the examination results are released. Somebody from Mandera County cannot get the results and travel to Nairobi within 14 days to come and

amended to increase it to at least 30 days. This is because, at that time, there is euphoria of examinations results being released. It is better if enough time is given to launch complaints. That will give each and every Kenyan a fair period to submit their complaint and they will not be time barred.

I beg to support the Bill and hope that this will be our way out for the few innocent. All in all, cheating is rampant and is eroding our education system. Therefore, cheating has to be brought to a stop. This could be one way of knowing the Kenyan who benefits out of it. Many of our children are losing their academic lives through this kind of cheating scheme by some people who are trying to make money. If there is no way of catching these people and punishing them, I am sure that they will get bolder and become more sophisticated. This will lead to eroding the Kenya education system.

I beg to support.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank and congratulate Sen. Obure for this timely Bill. I know that Kisii County and its surroundings have really been affected by cases of examinations cheating. As much as we condemn cheating, we must also look at the rights in the Constitution. Article 47 guarantees every person a right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. We have had very many cases of cheating reported every year. We have had cherished dreams of children who have worked for very many years crushed in a day or through a decision made when results are released.

This Bill must not in whatever form be seen to condone cheating. It must give fair hearing to the aggrieved parties. As it is, the KNEC has had unilateral power and they have applied it as it is. However, we must have recourse in terms of having an appellate system where, if you feel that you do not agree with a decision taken by the KNEC, then you have a forum to air your grievances.

The issue of cheating in this country has been so rampant and it is getting worse by the day. We, as a country, have also glorified examinations. As the Cabinet Secretary indicated, the Ministry is reviewing the curriculum and this is something that we must consider. The pressure that we put in three days of examinations to our children is too much. We must ask ourselves whether the curriculum is serving the market that we are dealing with or not. The market is very dynamic. How we were learning and examining students 20 years ago is not the same way we are doing today. Today, we even have virtual classes.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we must look at the curriculum and ask ourselves whether it is serving requirements of the market both nationally and internationally or not. To children, the issue of cheating has been a psychological one. We have seen children commit suicide because they felt that was the end of the world for them. Some students cannot fathom the idea of their peers going to universities while they remain at home because their result slips are showing ‘Y”. Some end up committing suicide.

This tribunal is timely. However, I do not agree with parents sitting in this tribunal. Recently the Ministry disbanded the Parents’ Association headed by one person who was collecting money from parents purporting to recruit parents in his association. The Ministry wrote to all public schools to stop dealing with this particular individual.

person. Parents are also a very interested party in this matter.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, on a point of information.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I would like to be informed by Sen. Karaba.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I would like to inform Sen. Wangari that in this Bill, a parent is not qualified to sit in the tribunal because all of us can sit in it because we are parents. Therefore, it is the Cabinet Secretary who will determine who will sit in the tribunal.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank Sen. Karaba for the information. However, my understanding is that the person nominated to sit in this tribunal is one nominated jointly by the associations representing the interests of the parents. That is what I was talking about. We are all parents and even the person appointed under Clause 2 (a) is a parent. However, he or she is not sitting to represent parents. He or she is sitting to represent the appointing authority who we will decide whether it is the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) or the Ombudsman as has been suggested by Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale. I feel that we need to replace the Association of Parents and get someone else who is impartial to this matter.

Sen. Wangari, do you mean that Sen. Karaba’s point of information was not valid at all?

Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. First of all, let me start by congratulating you. Since you became a Member of the Speaker’s Panel, I have not had a chance of making contributions before you and congratulate you for being elected and approved by this House to be a Temporary Speaker, a position that I served in for the last three years. I understand the challenges you are going through but it is also a position of great experience and knowledge.

I also want to congratulate Sen. Obure for making tremendous and very important contribution to the field of education and particularly in a matter that has bothered Kenyans for a long time, which is the question of the KNEC going to abuse its powers without any checks and balances and without a place where the citizens can appeal to.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is important that the phenomenon of tribunals which is in many sectors in the industry is introduced to this education sector particularly the examinations, as one way of making it more accessible by the members of the public, but also as a way of removing from the structures of courts the questions that are related

nullifying and cancelling examination.

Constituting this body is very important. I agree with what Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale has suggested that you may want to re-look at the representation so that it is not so much looking like a trade union where you just want this organization and the other to be there, but a lot of effort be put on the expertise of the people who are going to serve. This is so that as Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale had pointed out, when you look at the membership, you have a person nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). I do not have a problem with that. It can be the JSC as he said or a body like the Commission on Administration of Justice.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when it comes to representation of teachers, principals and parents, maybe we need to re-look that. There will come a situation where the teachers unions will have a position in such decisions of the KNEC. They will be the ones appealing that decision to the tribunal. It will be suspect that if teachers and parents unions jointly have an issue against the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), it is likely that people would view that those members who sit there are doing so on behalf of those unions and may not have in their heart or mind the intention of administering justice, but pleasing their appointing authority who perhaps will give them the chance to renew their positions as tribunal members when the renewal time comes. I would ask the Mover to re-think about the same.

If you look at the tribunals that deal with standards, intellectual property and industrial property, you will see that more focus is given to the qualification of the person. That person is appointed based on academic qualifications rather than representations of unions. We may need to re-look at that. I saw the provision that the Cabinet Secretary will designate a secretary, who is a member or person serving within the Ministry. The thought behind the Bill was basically to minimize costs, so that very many people are not hired. But considering that the tribunal will serve on ad hoc basis, it is important that the secretary and the secretariat becomes a fulltime institution. He is the person who will run the affairs of the tribunal on a day to day basis, preparing for the tribunal members. If the secretary serves on an ad hoc basis we run the danger of that person being pulled back to his or her Ministry. We need to amend the Bill to say that the tribunal will advertise and hire a secretary.

The practice of judicial and quasi-judicial bodies is that they prepare their own rules. I have seen in the Bill that the Cabinet Secretary may make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the tribunal. Perhaps, it is better for the tribunal to make its own rules, so that those rules are approved in Parliament because they are just rules of procedure. Since other tribunals also make their own rules, and because there is precedent, they are likely to pick those rules from the many other tribunals that exist.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, one of the things that I like about this Bill is that the reason we have a tribunal and not a court is we make it more accessible. People are not forced to use very strict rules. It is important for that reason for the tribunal to keep within the principles of the law, to make it more accessible to as many people as possible. I also support the idea that a parent must be given the opportunity to make the appeal, because these are minors and one must be allowed to act on behalf of the child. That also

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Kenya National Examinations Council (Amendment) (No.2) Bill (Senate Bill No. 14 of 2015) . I recall that students from Maranda High School suffered because of examination cheating. This happened in the computer examination. We need to interrogate whether the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) at that time had mechanisms of understanding that exams done by computer can bring other issues.

How do you then verify that the students cheated knowing that it is not done on paper where a student writes his or her own examination but this is a computer? Therefore, you will find identical marks; either all students getting good grades or failing.

Having said that---

enforced, not just by the person whose rights have been violated but also on behalf of that person.

That latitude must be given whether it involves Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations or any other person who thinks that the child has been molested or his or her rights have been violated and act on their behalf. You do not expect situations like in places which are marginalized, far from Nairobi or the city - I am happy that the Bill provides that the tribunal can sit in different places - If there is a situation where the complaints are concentrated in one section of the country, it is better for the tribunal to sit in that section of that country and collect evidence and get witnesses, in order to save travelling costs. This issue must be dealt with accordingly.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill so that we have an institutional framework for dealing with disputes. The Constitution allows one to appeal in the High Court. However, I hope few cases will end up in the High Court because of the cost. I believe that we will have men and women in the tribunal who are competent and qualified to do the work that is expected of them. Most of the tribunals that exist today are ad hoc in nature, but in reality, they are full time. This is because if there is an overload of work, they end up operating full time. Considering that the tribunal will be presiding over matters related strictly to examinations, there will be a high concentration just after December when the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results are released and in February or March when the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results are released.

There are also other technical institutions that do KNEC examinations to which appeals can be made. That is why it is important to have the tribunal operating full time. Examinations are set by the KNEC and students sit for them in different institutions; private schools, public schools and other institutions. With this kind of concentration, I hope adequate resources will allocated to the tribunal to enable it do its job.

A Senator here suggested that they should not charge a fee. However, I beg to suggest otherwise. An affordable fee should be charged so that people do not just abuse it by going there on flimsy grounds. There must be room for a small fee and room to also waive that fee in situations that we call pauper briefs; where someone is completely unable to pay that fee.

The education sector must be reformed. This is part of reforming and strengthening institutions. As a former lecturer in the university, more needs to be done to bring credibility in the education sector. This is because there is too much commercialization in primary and secondary schools. We concentrate more on how many students a school has, how much they charge, what kind of marks they attain and which kind of schools they proceed to. However, a lot should go to what kind of talents, skills and competences are being given to the students. The other day, a parent asked me to assist him transfer his child from one school to the other. The consideration he had for the next school is that they pass examinations. I advised him otherwise. I told him that the other school may not have passed all the examinations overall, but it had excelled nationally in sports and drama. This is very commendable.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am not questioning. I am just giving examples. The challenges that Sen. Obure has come across in Kisii are some of the things that we need to look at. When the KNEC decides that 122 students have to repeat a whole year in school because of cheating, we need to interrogate the teachers and the preparations that were done. This does not apply on the example that I gave earlier but in most cases, I believe the teachers are also culpable. How do you handle the case of students from the same school having identical grades? It does not mean that the students are the only ones guilty of cheating; it means that they colluded with a teacher who gave out the examination paper and guided them on how to do it. As we insist on a tribunal, we must know that the students, teachers and even the supervisors are part of examination cheating.

In addition, cheating in examinations reflects declining ethics. We need to find out whether the KNEC still has the capacity or we need to revamp it. As a country, we have left people to serve in an institution for more than 20 years. We witness decline in performance and negative reports but we still leave the same people to deal with the same challenges. It is time when an institution records a decline in performance, we need to change it; bring in different and vibrant blood that can come up with new ideas and technology to change that institution.

Cheating in examinations and cancellation of results is like an annual event in our country. It is normal! Every year when our students are going to do their examinations, we talk about cheating. It is a norm. How can we change this? It starts with attitude. It is a form of corruption. People just talk of corruption in monetary terms. However, this is the worst form of corruption. This is how we finish our children completely. As at that time, parents have paid school fees for four years and you are expecting that the teachers have prepared students for exams, then, all of a sudden you are told, “No, your school

the same class. It is a burden to parents.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank Sen. Obure for bringing this amendment. We have a Cabinet Secretary who is willing to transform the education sector. He has quietly and without notice visited schools. This is very important because that is when you can find out whether students are alone; do we have teachers in school? Where have we reached in the syllabus? Days are gone when the syllabus was concluded by second term and revision started for the examinations. Nowadays, many schools go even up to third term without completing their syllabus yet they have finished their mock examinations. Those are some of the things I hope the Cabinet Secretary will look at and help the students and teachers to ensure that schools finish their syllabus by the end of second term so that children are left to revise all that they studied. This will reduce examination cheating.

The other issue is the senior officials at the KNEC who are doing thriving business by selling examination papers to schools. However, when they are caught, you will never find them in the courts or know how the case was handled. The only thing you will know is the cancellation of examination results when the Cabinet Secretary is announcing the results. Examination cheating does not start on the day of the examination, it starts earlier. Therefore, you can use a mechanism to ensure that cancellation of examination results does not happen but because it is a thriving business and we are in a digital era, examination papers end up in the hands of students by June, even before they do their mock examination.

As you may recall, there were days you could gauge the performance of a school by looking at their mock examination results. Those days are gone. Mock examinations then prepared students so that there was no cheating. If a student, for example, scored grade B upwards, he or she knew that there was excellence in the main exam, go beyond grade B and get an A. If you scored grade C, you knew very well that you are an average student and you can try your best to move to grade B. However, today, you cannot gauge the performance of your students in the main examination based on the results of the mock examination. It has become difficult.

It is also important to look at the issue of ranking based on schools. As Sen. Wangari has suggested, we need to rank the individual student. Therefore, in any school, even one in the remote area which is a day school, a student can excel as in other schools. Even those students who come from a small school and have performed well have a chance to be ranked with the rest. People will wonder how they passed. That is where we went wrong. We believed that it is only Alliance High School, Starehe Boys’ Centre and School and Precious Blood that are the schools that when our children join, they will perform and go to the university. That is how we have made students to cheat because if a student is not in Alliance High School and he or she wants to join university, he or she has to do anything to ensure they go to the university.

As was the case before, today, we do not have education officers who used to go round schools at random to monitor progress. As we realign this, the Government should come in. We also have many other factors that influence examination cheating. If we

Since there is no other interests to contribute on this matter, I now call upon the Mover to reply.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I wish to express my thanks and gratitude to all those who have contributed to the debate on this amendment. I am happy that it has attracted high quality debate on the entire issue of provision of education and administration of national examinations in this country.

In particular, I acknowledge individually those who have made their contribution in enriching this amendment. I thank the Senator for Homa Bay, Sen. M. Kajwang, who seconded this Bill, Sen. (Dr.) Zani who gave very useful input, the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Wetangula, Sen. Karaba, Chairman of the Committee on Education, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, Sen. Melly, Sen. Hargura, Sen. Wangari, Sen. Elachi, Sen. Lesuuda and lastly my friend Sen. Murkomen.

Colleague Senators, I assure you that I have been busy taking detailed notes. I will incorporate what you have said particularly in relation to the amendments. We have all agreed that the question of integrity of our national examination system is very crucial. We all have a duty as citizens of this country to protect the integrity of our national examination system. If we allow that system to be undermined, then our entire education system will collapse. Nobody will recognise our certificates and the kind of education we are offering to our citizens.

I made it very clear at the time when I was moving this Bill that we all agree on the need to protect the integrity of our national examinations. However, in moving this amendment, I was particularly concerned about arbitrary decisions which are made by the Kenya National examinations Council (KNEC) . These are decisions where victims were not given an opportunity to tell their side of the story. The powers which were given to the KNEC are absolute; they cannot be questioned by anybody.

Sen. Wangari said that in as much as we all condemn cheating and malpractices in our examinations, we must also protect the right of victims to be heard. This is a very important statement. This is my concern; that decisions made by the KNEC must be subject to review because they impose untold penalties on students. The KNEC sets, invigilates, supervises, marks and grades exams and then the same institution is given powers to cancel those results. Withholding or nullifying the entire examination unilaterally without giving an explanation to those who have been affected should not happen at our level of development when we are enjoying the fruits of 2010 Constitution.

The establishment of a tribunal by this Bill is really one of the ways in which we can correct a lot of the wrongs made particular through unilateral and arbitrary decisions made by the KNEC. Every citizen in this country has a right to be heard. Even the rules of natural justice demand that an individual who feels offended or whose decision has been taken against, should be given an opportunity to explain himself or herself. Therefore, this Bill will give an opportunity to such people to be heard.

I have listened to various amendments made particularly on the composition---

Order, Sen. Obure. You have 30 minutes to reply. However, we have three more minutes before we adjourn the sitting. Therefore, you have the liberty to either exhaust your 30 minutes and that means the business goes to the next sitting day or you could conclude within the three minutes left.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this amendment will give candidates, particularly those who feel that they were not involved in any malpractice--- In the debate which has ensued in this House, we have been told about leakages from the KNEC headquarters itself. Therefore, the candidates may not have directly participated in releasing some of the leakages.

Even if some of these candidates have been punished, they have been punished unfairly. It is good that we give them an opportunity to respond through the creation of this tribunal.

I thank Hon. Members. I assure them that the various proposals for the improvement of this Bill have been taken on board. These are issues to do with composition of the tribunal, removal of parents from the tribunal and so on.

I, therefore, conclude by moving that, the Kenya National Examinations Council (Amendment) Bill No.2 of 2015 be read a second time. I also, pursuant to Standing Order No.54 (3) , request that you defer putting of the question to tomorrow.

It is so granted.

we have bodies like the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation (JKF), “Wings to Fly” and many other people and associations who sponsor such pupils. So, would I be in order to find out whether she is in order to have a pupil who scored 413 marks still at home, while others are proceeding with education?

Sen. Karaba, so, what is your point of order?

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, my point of order is that the Senator is ignorant that we have such foundations which cater for pupils who cannot afford school fees.

Are you suggesting that if we directed to you any student in the Republic of Kenya who scores over 350 marks and is unable to pay school fees, you know where they can find school fees?

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am not implying so. I am suggesting that there is a way of helping such pupils because I have helped them in the past.

Anyway, that was not really a point of order. Sen. Lesuuda you have one minute to conclude.

Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I will actually deal a little bit on what Sen. Karaba has said. I think he is the one who is ignorant of what is happening in our country on issues to do with education. I am very passionate about our children accessing education. These institutions are also not enough. I have a list because I have so many children who have benefitted from these institutions. I know what I can do about it but the truth of the matter is that, that child is at home. The school will not receive this child without any support. If anything, that child said she had applied for Equity’s “Wings to Fly” and from another organizations. They can only take as much.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I think it is the reality and I do hope that we will see this as a real challenge and a problem so that as the State - because the mandate is on the State and not the institutions - makes sure that education is affordable in our country.

Thank you and I support this Bill.

Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. First of all, let me start by congratulating you. Since you became a Member of the Speaker’s Panel, I have not had a chance of making contributions before you and congratulate you for being elected and approved by this House to be a Temporary Speaker, a position that I served in for the last three years. I understand the challenges you are going through but it is also a position of great experience and knowledge.

I also want to congratulate Sen. Obure for making tremendous and very important contribution to the field of education and particularly in a matter that has bothered Kenyans for a long time, which is the question of the KNEC going to abuse its powers without any checks and balances and without a place where the citizens can appeal to.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is important that the phenomenon of tribunals which is in many sectors in the industry is introduced to this education sector particularly the examinations, as one way of making it more accessible by the members of the public, but also as a way of removing from the structures of courts the questions that are related

nullifying and cancelling examination.

Constituting this body is very important. I agree with what Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale has suggested that you may want to re-look at the representation so that it is not so much looking like a trade union where you just want this organization and the other to be there, but a lot of effort be put on the expertise of the people who are going to serve. This is so that as Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale had pointed out, when you look at the membership, you have a person nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). I do not have a problem with that. It can be the JSC as he said or a body like the Commission on Administration of Justice.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when it comes to representation of teachers, principals and parents, maybe we need to re-look that. There will come a situation where the teachers unions will have a position in such decisions of the KNEC. They will be the ones appealing that decision to the tribunal. It will be suspect that if teachers and parents unions jointly have an issue against the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), it is likely that people would view that those members who sit there are doing so on behalf of those unions and may not have in their heart or mind the intention of administering justice, but pleasing their appointing authority who perhaps will give them the chance to renew their positions as tribunal members when the renewal time comes. I would ask the Mover to re-think about the same.

If you look at the tribunals that deal with standards, intellectual property and industrial property, you will see that more focus is given to the qualification of the person. That person is appointed based on academic qualifications rather than representations of unions. We may need to re-look at that. I saw the provision that the Cabinet Secretary will designate a secretary, who is a member or person serving within the Ministry. The thought behind the Bill was basically to minimize costs, so that very many people are not hired. But considering that the tribunal will serve on ad hoc basis, it is important that the secretary and the secretariat becomes a fulltime institution. He is the person who will run the affairs of the tribunal on a day to day basis, preparing for the tribunal members. If the secretary serves on an ad hoc basis we run the danger of that person being pulled back to his or her Ministry. We need to amend the Bill to say that the tribunal will advertise and hire a secretary.

The practice of judicial and quasi-judicial bodies is that they prepare their own rules. I have seen in the Bill that the Cabinet Secretary may make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the tribunal. Perhaps, it is better for the tribunal to make its own rules, so that those rules are approved in Parliament because they are just rules of procedure. Since other tribunals also make their own rules, and because there is precedent, they are likely to pick those rules from the many other tribunals that exist.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, one of the things that I like about this Bill is that the reason we have a tribunal and not a court is we make it more accessible. People are not forced to use very strict rules. It is important for that reason for the tribunal to keep within the principles of the law, to make it more accessible to as many people as possible. I also support the idea that a parent must be given the opportunity to make the appeal, because these are minors and one must be allowed to act on behalf of the child. That also

enforced, not just by the person whose rights have been violated but also on behalf of that person.

That latitude must be given whether it involves Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations or any other person who thinks that the child has been molested or his or her rights have been violated and act on their behalf. You do not expect situations like in places which are marginalized, far from Nairobi or the city - I am happy that the Bill provides that the tribunal can sit in different places - If there is a situation where the complaints are concentrated in one section of the country, it is better for the tribunal to sit in that section of that country and collect evidence and get witnesses, in order to save travelling costs. This issue must be dealt with accordingly.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill so that we have an institutional framework for dealing with disputes. The Constitution allows one to appeal in the High Court. However, I hope few cases will end up in the High Court because of the cost. I believe that we will have men and women in the tribunal who are competent and qualified to do the work that is expected of them. Most of the tribunals that exist today are ad hoc in nature, but in reality, they are full time. This is because if there is an overload of work, they end up operating full time. Considering that the tribunal will be presiding over matters related strictly to examinations, there will be a high concentration just after December when the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results are released and in February or March when the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results are released.

There are also other technical institutions that do KNEC examinations to which appeals can be made. That is why it is important to have the tribunal operating full time. Examinations are set by the KNEC and students sit for them in different institutions; private schools, public schools and other institutions. With this kind of concentration, I hope adequate resources will allocated to the tribunal to enable it do its job.

A Senator here suggested that they should not charge a fee. However, I beg to suggest otherwise. An affordable fee should be charged so that people do not just abuse it by going there on flimsy grounds. There must be room for a small fee and room to also waive that fee in situations that we call pauper briefs; where someone is completely unable to pay that fee.

The education sector must be reformed. This is part of reforming and strengthening institutions. As a former lecturer in the university, more needs to be done to bring credibility in the education sector. This is because there is too much commercialization in primary and secondary schools. We concentrate more on how many students a school has, how much they charge, what kind of marks they attain and which kind of schools they proceed to. However, a lot should go to what kind of talents, skills and competences are being given to the students. The other day, a parent asked me to assist him transfer his child from one school to the other. The consideration he had for the next school is that they pass examinations. I advised him otherwise. I told him that the other school may not have passed all the examinations overall, but it had excelled nationally in sports and drama. This is very commendable.

come out of schools not having just crammed theories to pass examinations. They must have a way of expressing themselves; they should have succeeded in talents and competencies. We should have a person who can think outside the box or better yet as they say nowadays, think without the box. We want to have students who are innovative in their thinking and have a focus on what they want to contribute.

The Cabinet Secretary must be supported when he says that we need to reform university education so that there is no mere mushrooming of universities without focus on skills and competencies. There is a lot in this country about getting a certificate for the sake of it and it being a basis of being promoted, without one showing what skills and competencies they have learnt and how to apply them to change this country. The Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Matiang’i must be supported when it comes to ensuring that when a university is expanding across the country, they must demonstrate that they have the resources to meet that kind of expansion. They should not just expand for the purpose of creating employment or getting more students to get certificates.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we must also relook at how universities examine their students. I agree with the previous speakers who have said that the ranking of universities is very important. All over the world, even in the United States of America (USA), they rank universities not just on overall education, but they also rank them in terms of sports, international law, medicine, agriculture and many others. We need to have a proper scholarship system in this country that is transparent and that can reach the needy students.

The situation that was mentioned here by Sen. Lesuuda is a fact. We find situations where children who have excelled in their examinations are staying at home. Three years down the line, a student tells you that he had attained over 400 marks, he did not proceed because of lack of school fees, he or she is still at home. We need to have a system that works. We can talk of projects that Sen. Karaba mentioned here like the “Wings to Fly” scholarship and many others. However, those are initiatives of individuals that must be lauded and supported. However, the Government must also have its scholarship programme.

Secondly, we need to have more philanthropists in this country. What the Chairman of Equity Bank, Mr. Munga and Mr. Mwangi are doing can be replicated by many other Kenyans who have been endowed with resources. Instead of having this ad hoc way of supporting, which we do; I know that almost all politicians here are paying school fees somewhere; we might need to create more programmes that have institutional framework which can assist as many students as possible. Our counties can become the organizing institutions; assist and work with these philanthropists.

We need to appeal to more Kenyans that they do not need to pass on from this world with all that wealth; they can give back to society. For example, in the United States of America (USA), universities are growing because rich people are giving back to society by building classrooms, supporting scientific research and as on. That is why some of us had an opportunity to study in developed countries, for instance, South Africa, USA and other places. This was made possible by scholarships given by other people who want to fund needy students. That is the same thing that we need to grow in this

people.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Since there is no other interests to contribute on this matter, I now call upon the Mover to reply.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I wish to express my thanks and gratitude to all those who have contributed to the debate on this amendment. I am happy that it has attracted high quality debate on the entire issue of provision of education and administration of national examinations in this country.

In particular, I acknowledge individually those who have made their contribution in enriching this amendment. I thank the Senator for Homa Bay, Sen. M. Kajwang, who seconded this Bill, Sen. (Dr.) Zani who gave very useful input, the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Wetangula, Sen. Karaba, Chairman of the Committee on Education, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, Sen. Melly, Sen. Hargura, Sen. Wangari, Sen. Elachi, Sen. Lesuuda and lastly my friend Sen. Murkomen.

Colleague Senators, I assure you that I have been busy taking detailed notes. I will incorporate what you have said particularly in relation to the amendments. We have all agreed that the question of integrity of our national examination system is very crucial. We all have a duty as citizens of this country to protect the integrity of our national examination system. If we allow that system to be undermined, then our entire education system will collapse. Nobody will recognise our certificates and the kind of education we are offering to our citizens.

I made it very clear at the time when I was moving this Bill that we all agree on the need to protect the integrity of our national examinations. However, in moving this amendment, I was particularly concerned about arbitrary decisions which are made by the Kenya National examinations Council (KNEC) . These are decisions where victims were not given an opportunity to tell their side of the story. The powers which were given to the KNEC are absolute; they cannot be questioned by anybody.

Sen. Wangari said that in as much as we all condemn cheating and malpractices in our examinations, we must also protect the right of victims to be heard. This is a very important statement. This is my concern; that decisions made by the KNEC must be subject to review because they impose untold penalties on students. The KNEC sets, invigilates, supervises, marks and grades exams and then the same institution is given powers to cancel those results. Withholding or nullifying the entire examination unilaterally without giving an explanation to those who have been affected should not happen at our level of development when we are enjoying the fruits of 2010 Constitution.

The establishment of a tribunal by this Bill is really one of the ways in which we can correct a lot of the wrongs made particular through unilateral and arbitrary decisions made by the KNEC. Every citizen in this country has a right to be heard. Even the rules of natural justice demand that an individual who feels offended or whose decision has been taken against, should be given an opportunity to explain himself or herself. Therefore, this Bill will give an opportunity to such people to be heard.

I have listened to various amendments made particularly on the composition---

Order, Sen. Obure. You have 30 minutes to reply. However, we have three more minutes before we adjourn the sitting. Therefore, you have the liberty to either exhaust your 30 minutes and that means the business goes to the next sitting day or you could conclude within the three minutes left.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am scheduled to be away. Therefore, I want to conclude this today.

You have three minutes to do so.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this amendment will give candidates, particularly those who feel that they were not involved in any malpractice--- In the debate which has ensued in this House, we have been told about leakages from the KNEC headquarters itself. Therefore, the candidates may not have directly participated in releasing some of the leakages.

Even if some of these candidates have been punished, they have been punished unfairly. It is good that we give them an opportunity to respond through the creation of this tribunal.

I thank Hon. Members. I assure them that the various proposals for the improvement of this Bill have been taken on board. These are issues to do with composition of the tribunal, removal of parents from the tribunal and so on.

I, therefore, conclude by moving that, the Kenya National Examinations Council (Amendment) Bill No.2 of 2015 be read a second time. I also, pursuant to Standing Order No.54 (3) , request that you defer putting of the question to tomorrow.

It is so granted.

30p.m., time to adjourn the business of the Senate. The Senate, therefore, stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday 24th February, 2016 at 2:30 p.m.

The Senate rose at 6.30 p.m.