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{
    "id": 799676,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/799676/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 35,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was not going to speak on this matter but I have been moved to do so after the contribution by the Senator for Nyeri. He has raised a very fundamental constitutional question. We have to decide whether or not we will perform our constitutional functions in accordance with the Constitution or we will look for a different framework outside the Constitution. If I may just pause and ask the question; will we ever have a situation where the court, in exercise of its judicial function, would want to enter into some kind of understanding as to whether we should appear in court or come in a certain fashion? When you are required to appear, you are required to appear because it is a duty and the exercise of a constitutional function. The problem is that Parliament, and particularly, the National Assembly, appropriates funds to be expended. Leave alone the audit. You are the owner of the funds expended by the state. You are the ones who appropriate. It is not the Executive. So, it is not even the business of the executive as the governors to try and find out how that money was spent because you are the one who has appropriated it. In addition to the role of the Auditor General, he is also required that in every Financial year, he should report to Parliament. He is only given six months at the end of each financial year. So, with these constitutional tools, we may want to have an approach in which we make governors and the counties feel comfortably when they come to appear before us, but in the exercise of our constitutional duty, we should not be seen to be ceding ground because that is what happens. The moment you are seen to be ceding ground, the moment a governor knows that he can elect not to appear, for example, Sen. Linturi is saying the governor elected, 24 hours before the meeting, not to appear. That is a grave mistake. If you are summoned to a court and you send a letter there that you are not appearing, you will not be allowed to tell that story. You will be trailed to purge that contempt before you are heard. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the governors should be told that this is an offence but in the exercise of our constitutional duty we will not have a debate or discussion. If they appear, well and good but if they do not appear, the Senate should use the tools at its disposal which are contained in the Constitution so that the work is done properly and in good time. Otherwise, we will be told that we are not exercising our mandate properly. 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."
}