Garissa Township legislator Aden Duale has expressed his dissatisfaction with the proposals made in the Health Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
Duale said that the bill was not properly taken to the public for participation as well as the interested bodies in the country.
“In this regard to what extent can this Bill proceed for Second Reading when the Committee has not properly conducted public participation as required by the Constitution,” Duale asked.
The MP said that as per the records, several bodies in the health sector including the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers and Kenya Clinical Officers Association among others were not given time to air their grievances even after submitting memoranda for consideration by the Committee.
“I can confirm that the Committee in complete disregard of Article 118 of the Constitution never considered the memoranda or gave them an opportunity to appear before the Committee to prosecute.”
He said that just as many other bills that have failed to pass due to inadequate public participation, the same might ‘die as the dodo’.
One of the proposals in the bill is to have various boards of parastatals in the health sector be fully represented by the government.
“Without the check and balances, to what extent shall the national values and principles in Article 10 of the Constitution be achieved including good governance. That government shall be running the Boards without any check and balance, is this not a negation of Article 10.”
In his contribution to the proposed amendments, the MP wants National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi to issue guidance on the constitutionality of the bill in view of the requirements of Articles 10 and 118 of the Constitution.
