HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 695170,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/695170/?format=api",
"text_counter": 1301,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is precedent setting. This is the first time this House sits as a Committee of the Whole to listen to an impeachment case. We have listened to a case presented by the County Assembly of Nyeri, to the defense mounted by His Excellency the Governor of the County of Nyeri. The House has listened to the witnesses. I salute the lawyers appearing on both sides for their tremendous industry in presenting and defending the case for their clients, respectively. In this process, just as we said, at the opening session, the cardinal rule is fairness, fair play, the right to be heard which we have accorded the Governor, and the duty by this Senate to make a finding without fear, favour or prejudice. Mr. Speaker, Sir, at the end of this session, each of the 47 Delegations are obligated in law to cast a vote either to send that gentleman home or to keep him in office; to make him an ordinary citizen or retain him as the Governor of the County of Nyeri. Allegations have been placed before us, running from impropriety in management of finances to non-observance of the law, including the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. My colleagues and I, and, indeed, you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, have listened very carefully with our support staff guiding us from the background. At the end of the day, we must also bear into account that the public out there, particularly the distinguished people of Nyeri, who elected their Governor and who have either received adequate services, or the opposite, have been watching and have an interest in this process. Consequently, like my distinguished colleague has said, this Senate is now faced with a very simple, but daunting task of making a decision that will go down in the annals of history as being the first ever impeachment proceedings that are heard publicly, and viewed by every Kenyan because it was live broadcast and, above all, this House is able to uphold and or disagree with the findings of the County Assembly. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are not sitting on appeal; we cast an original vote as a House of Parliament. In doing so, I encourage my colleagues to remember the words of the great mercurial lawyer: Johnnie Cochran in the case of O.J. Simpson versus the People of America. In his submission, he told the jurors that: “If the glove fits, convict, if the glove does not fit, you must acquit.\" That is a case that set the entire American nation spellbound to the extent that President Bill Clinton had to address the nation an hour before the verdict. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}