The  National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) chaired by Hon. George Gitonga Murugara (Tharaka) held meetings with Legislators proposing various amendments to different Bills.

The first Legislator to appear before the Committee was Hon. Simon King'ara (Ruiru), who is proposing amendments on the Law of Contract Act, to provide that incase of a default of a certain financial obligation, the plaintiff should first realize the assets of the defaulter before attaching the assets of a guarantor. The proposal is intended to protect the guarantors against claims that arise following default on financial obligations by the principal. 

Hon. Murugara commended Hon. King'ara for the proposals noting that they will help cushion guarantors, and promised to further deliberate on them with the committee members.

Second was Hon. Francis Masara, (Suna West) who was proposing amendment to  the Marriage (Amendment) Bill, (2022). The proposed amendment intends to  introduce a new definition of the term "mutual separation". 

The proposal also seeks to introduce clause  that provides that parties in a marriage may jointly petition the court for decree of divorce by mutual consent if the marriage has irretrievably broken down, the parties have mutually separated for at least one year immediately preceding the date of presentation of the petition and also if the parties have mutually agreed to dissolve the marriage.

The third Legislator  before the Committee was  Hon. Julius Sunkuli (Kilgoris) who proposed the National Coroners Service (Amendment) Bill (202) that seeks to amend the National Coroners Act (2017) to have a Coroner-General. Hon. Sunkuli proposed that the Coroner-General should be a legal practitioner on account of the complexity and the technical nature of the role which requires them to make recommendations on the legal and policy interventions in accordance with standards and practice.

Further, the proposal re-designates the office of the Coroner-General and the National Coroners Service from the Public Service Commission (PSC)  to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The Legislator  noted that the Attorney General has never been categorized as a Cabinet Secretary and therefore proposed deletion of the term Cabinet Secretary and insertion of the word 'Commission', to mean the Judicial Service Commission.

Hon. Sunkuli also proposed an alteration of the qualification of a Coroner-General from a medical practitioner to an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with at least 10 years experience. He  noted that this office will help to thoroughly and independently investigate the extra judicial killings happening in the country, especially the current mysterious killings of people in Shakahola, Kilifi County. 

The Session Chair Hon. John Kaguchia (Mukurwe-ini) agreed that there are many things that have come into question with this Bill, and that it needs to be looked into comprehensively.

Lastly, the Committee  heard from Hon. David Gikaria (Nakuru East) regarding the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill. The Legislator is  proposing  to amend the Penal Code (Cap. 63) by repealing section 182 which provides for offences relating to idle and disorderly persons.

Hon. Gikaria argued that the provision has been abused by law enforcement agencies to harass innocent members of the public and that it limits the right to freedom of movement and association.