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"content": "(The Quorum Bell was rung)"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
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"content": " Confirm if we now have quorum. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"content": "(The Clerk-at-the-Table consulted with the Deputy Speaker)"
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
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"content": "We are now okay. Senate Majority Leader, proceed with your contribution."
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. There are students in the House, and this is part of our work. I was saying that Mr. Laban Omusundi reminds me of another gentleman whose name I do not seem to recall. I think he was called Major Rop. Thank you, Innocent, for reminding me. In the first Senate, that gentleman would petition this House on something of national importance almost every week. He would tell us that as per the dictates of the Constitution, members of the public are allowed to petition Parliament. Be asked and reminded that as members of the public you can request the House to consider any matter so that we can guide the country. This is an issue that so many people have complained about. I have seen citizens take pictures of waivers by county governments, projects that have been done and you find a huge imposing picture of either the local Member of County Assembly (MCA), governor or Member of Parliament. I do not think there was any such consideration by citizens of this republic when they passed the Kenya Constitution, 2010 that we, as public servants, will take over ownership of projects that we have done using taxpayers' money. If there is to be any picture that is imposed on a project, then it is a picture of the citizens who paid for the project. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I like the fact that this Committee in Recommendation No.2 has asked the right body, the EACC, because this is an issue of ethics. The EACC, in collaboration with the Office of the Auditor-General and the Controller of Budget, have been asked to enforce compliance with the constitutional and statutory provisions governing integrity and accountability and the proper use of public resources. This is abuse of public resources and I believe people such as Sen. Catherine Mumma, who are normally very consistent on issues of abuse, either of human rights or public resources, will have something to say about this and what they think about it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this Report, we are being told in Recommendation No.3 that after the passage of this Motion, the EACC will have 30 days to bring a report to the House informing us of what efforts they have put in place to ensure compliance with this provision. I want to believe that the Chief Executive officer of EACC will issue this decree in public for people to know that this is abuse of public funds and this is an ethics issue, which any public officer is found to violate. These violations deserve to be punished by law. This Mr. Laban Omosundi has pricked the conscience of a nation by reminding us that the beauty of our Constitution is such that as citizens, we can always remind each other when we find ourselves to be afoul of the law. He has reminded us, as a House, that we cannot allow this to continue. That is why I love the Senate. On a choice between Senate and so many other public offices, I would still choose to be in this House for as long as the people that I The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
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"content": "represent can allow me because in this House, we legislate, oversight and represent. That is the duty of a Member of Parliament. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, can you imagine if this Petition had found its way into a County Assembly, for example? There was no way they would agree to because they themselves are the abusers of these provisions. If you drive around Nairobi or your counties, you will find a big billboard declaring that the project has been done by the MCA in collaboration with the governor or the Member of Parliament. Senator Kisang’ gave reference about school buses. In fact, I have seen a more absurd one. There is a school from Western Kenya and Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale is not here, that I saw that had the picture of the MP behind in the rear screen. It was written that the patron is as an example, Senator Chute, Aaron Cheruiyot or someone. I do not think that is expected. I hope that upon the passage of this Report, it will be remembered in history that there used to be an abuse of public funds until the Senate put a stop to it. This is a very important report. I congratulate you, Sen. Abass, together with all the Members that serve with you in the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations. This is what Parliament should be doing, responding to the concerns of citizens and ensuring that we oversight. This is now oversight at its best where we notice violations of law and push for enforcement. I saw that they interviewed almost all the parties that are involved in this petition. They invited the Petitioner, Mr. Laban, listened to him and had petitions from other citizens. Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, it is my hope that Members can stay around and speak to this Motion, so that we vote on it today and begin counting 30 days from now. Sen. Abbas, I expect that your Committee next week, in your first order of business, fire a letter to the EACC; confirm that you have written to them and have reminded them that they are sleeping on their job; that they need to remind us to be public servants. They need to remind us where there are violations on the provisions of our Constitution and where there is abuse of office and misuse of public resources because that is what it is. There is no other better way to call this particular issue. I congratulate this Committee. I hope that they take time to ensure that this is done. Sen. Abbas or any member of this Committee, in 30 days after today, you will rise on a point of order one day to remind us that EACC has published a notice in prominent display, both in electronic and print media, that this habit needs to stop. If there are those that are emboldened or carved on stone or whatever, they need to be scrapped, so that citizens appreciate that these are public funds that has been used. The only project that will be allowed to bear the name of a prominent person, is if one runs their Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or private initiative or uses their own funds to do something for the public. I believe even the public will actually name it after you and have your picture prominently placed. So long as you are using public funds, it will never be allowed. With those very many remarks, I beg to support and thank the members of the Committee for a stellar performance. Congratulations, Sen. Abbas and the team that considered this Petition. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
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"id": 1624978,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Kavindu Muthama",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. It is very true and Mr. Laban Omusundi has watched properly what is happening in our counties. If you go almost everywhere in our counties, you will find branding of public projects with pictures of governors, MCAs and Members of our National Assembly. Governors also brand projects that have been done by the Members of National Assembly. One wonders who has done or not done the project. This should be brought to a stop because it is a waste of public funds. This money should be used for development in the counties. I commend the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations for this. I also commend Mr. Laban Omusundi, wherever he is. Action should be taken and all those branding images brought down. Resources should be for development in the counties."
},
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. As I rise to support, I am very happy today because we are talking about devolution. I am also happy because today, Nandi has become the 28th Catholic diocese in Kenya. We are now a diocese called Kapsabet Catholic Diocese. I thank Pope Leo XIV and the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Meghan, and also the Auxiliary Bishop John Kiplimo Lelei, who has been appointed as the new Bishop of Kapsabet Catholic Diocese. We are proud and this is a momentous occasion. I hope Sen. Sifuna will attend our inauguration on 30th August, 2025. I will personally invite you to attend. Secondly, all this money, this branding---Whenever I drive around Nairobi, there is the image of the governor and the Member of the County Assembly (MCA). This thing is predominant in counties. The funny thing is, the person who is the governor now was a Senator and was castigating the former governor. What am I trying to say? The behaviour of kings, people who build cult personality and hero worship, starts by ensuring their images are being put into public projects. I know you have been a member of the National Assembly for some time. I was driving sometime back in this City and saw one of the buses, which had been acquired through the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), having a big image of the Member of Parliament (MP) as the patron, including the name. The same thing is happening to roads. Why are we having most of these Government projects? I am happy that Omusundi is saying that we should brand this project as done by Kenyan taxpayers' money. This culture of leaders using their own images and portraits is unfortunate, immoral, uncultural and illegal. That is a violation of Chapter 6 of the Constitution 2010 on Leadership and Integrity. The proposed amendment by the Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee that we need to amend the County Governments Act, 2012, is long overdue. We need to rise up to the occasion. We have done this before. We agree that every leader in this country is struggling for feasibility. However, you do not need to use the resources of the people to get what we call unnecessary feasibility, yet you are using taxpayers' money. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
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"content": "We need to call out the MCAs, governors and Members of Parliament (MPs). The only time I have not seen some of these people putting their images is only on coffins. They have even put in the farewell homes, which is very unfortunate. I agree that this issue of branding of images should have included MPs. Article 231(4) of the Constitution, 2010 of the Republic of Kenya, one of the things includes issues of money; that we do not want to bear an image of anybody in our currency. The youth leader, Sen. (Dr.) Oburu Odinga, was among the people who sat during the constitutional review process in this country. I agree largely with the recommendations of the Committee. We need to ensure once and for all--- Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wanted to be brief and long enough to cover the essentials. I have even seen Government vehicles, GoK. Why is it that when somebody has a GoK vehicle, you change into civilian number plates? How will you use for the signing out and issue of traffic enforcement laws? Even here in Parliament, we should also be disciplined as leaders. If you are having a Government property, including houses, do not convert it into your house. I know a number of our colleagues are using national and county government vehicles. If you are driving a Government vehicle, use the numbers that you have been assigned officially, unless there is something you are hiding. I am happy that the former CECM under my good friend, Cyprian Awiti, was there. We are aware there are people who are misusing Government vehicles and property, including staplers and printers in Government offices. The indiscipline in this country is so much. There is an attitude called “ utado ”. I do not know where it came from. If it is Government property, people do not care. That is why you saw people burning a police station, law courts, police vehicles and attacking police officers. It is because we have so much bad manners in this country and that attitude, “utado ”, because you do not feel responsible. If all of us were responsible for Government property, we would not be doing what we are doing. This boils down to the values of the nation. We must go back to Article 10 of the Constitution, 2010 of the Republic of Kenya on national governance and principles of good governance and national values. If you see people rising up and destroying and defacing government’s property, then we no longer have that responsibility. I agree with the recommendation that if you threaten a Government security installation, including Parliament, police station, among others, you are a domestic terrorist and must be dealt with by the law as local terror under the anti-terrorism unit. On the recommendation on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) and Controller Budget (CoB) to report in 30 days, I am a bit jittery about the EACC. For example, in Nandi County, there was the employment scandal, where it was found that there were so many ghost workers. The EACC came with razzmatazz to the County Government of Nandi offices. Up to today, they have not even arrested a rat. I remember and I hope the Chairperson of the Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee is still there, that when we invited the EACC in the last session, the only highest conviction they had achieved at that time was a bribe of Kshs20,000. We need to call upon the EACC to put their act together. If they have a problem with The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1624981,
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"content": "resources, they should approach Parliament for more appropriation of resources, so that we can fight corruption in this country. That is why when I see young people agitating for good governance, EACC must be held accountable. At the county level, most governors are becoming overnight billionaires. They are becoming demigods. They are acquiring property in a satanic version, yet I am told they are converting and getting allegations of corruption within that has been. We must agree on the issue of EACC. I submit in a suo moto manner to the Chairperson of the Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights. I appeal to them that after this tabling, they should bring us the status of the fight against corruption in counties. It is very unfortunate. For example, in Nandi County, in the financial statements of the 2024/2025 Financial Year, the County Government of Nandi hired car hire services for Kshs42 million. Is that prudent use of the resources?"
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}