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{
    "id": 1057099,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1057099/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 159,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. Unfortunately, I have walked in late. I wanted to comment earlier on the issue of the Communication on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). On this matter, will just pick up from where Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. has left off. I can see that the Senate Minority Leader is in the House. The Senate Majority Leader was here. I sympathize this this Committee, as the chair of a committee. The right to petition Parliament in Article 119 of the Constitution is an absolute right. Any Kenyan should be able to do that. That is one of the highlights of the Constitution that we have. However, administratively, this Committee now has 28 to 30 petitions. There is no way they can be able to do it. Our Standing Orders provide that a Petition needs to be heard and determined within 60 days and I doubt many Committees have been able to handle this. I have had a hard time. I am happy that my committee does not have any pending petitions. This is for the leadership, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. being part of them, that we need to do two things. Number one, we need to split this Committee, mainly because of the width of its mandate. Issues of land, environment, housing, settlement and water are too wide for that Committee. Sen. Mwangi has really distinguished himself as a very good Chair and he is also a Member of my Committee. However, there is no way. They will be overwhelmed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the more we fail to respond to these questions by Kenyans, the less faith they will have in the Senate. I am putting it on record that the first thing that we need to do is find a way to split this Committee. I have advised Sen. Mwangi and a few members of that Committee that they can set up sub-committees within their Committee. Out of the nine members, they can set up three sub-committees to deal with these petitions. They can have a retreat and deal with at least half of these petitions within the next few months or two. It can be done. Administratively, we need to split it. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is a question that we need to answer. In as much as the right to petition is absolute, as a chair of a committee, I realized that somebody can keep me busy by just sending petitions because that is the first thing that you must deal with. You will not be able to do your legislative and oversight agenda as a Committee. You will not be able to play your other roles because all you will be doing is dealing with petitions. I think that half of them are from Taita Taveta. In as much as the issues are weighty, administratively, there needs to be filter that if a similar matter is being dealt with, that petition holds for a while until the committee has a certain threshold of petitions left and then brings them. Otherwise, we will just bombard our committees and they will be operated by remote control. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}