Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1066023,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1066023/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kindiki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1046,
        "legal_name": "Kithure Kindiki",
        "slug": "kithure-kindiki"
    },
    "content": "amendments. How do I support an amendment to include duties and responsibilities of the citizen? Just implement the African Charter on human and people’s rights, which Kenya ratified in October 1981. How do you support amendments to strengthen Chapter Six and fight corruption, when we have 12 Acts of Parliament speaking on corruption, and corruption has tripled in the period? We are only creating a larger Parliament and Executive and entrenching exclusion by saying that once we have representatives of two or five of the 44 communities of Kenya represented in the National Executive, then there will be stability, and the rest of the 39 are left to their own devices. I have seen a curious amendment. I will speak to two things because I can see I have five minutes. First, the danger we are creating by deleting Article 123, which speaks to the question of decision-making in the Senate, will live with us for the next two centuries. Many people who are proposing that the Senate now becomes a one Senator- one-vote matter do not understand the fundamental differences between the National Assembly, which is wired ideologically as a majoritarian House, and the Senate, the upper House which is supposed to balance between the interests of the nation by equalizing counties, irrespective of population and size. Upper chambers around the world exist to only perform that role. As much as we are pushing for One-man-One-Shilling, we should not lose the nation. That is why in this House, Lamu with its two constituencies has one vote and Nairobi with its 18, has one vote. Unlike in the National Assembly, this is an ideological issue. I am ashamed that my colleagues Senators can sit here and supervise the massacre of devolution and this House. We are now going to have 94 Senators. The extra colleagues who are coming on gender issues will have no work. This is a House of devolution. Remain in the National Assembly and do affirmative action programmes. What are you coming to do here that the elected Senator per county cannot do? We are a House of equity, devolution and balancing the units and the center. Madam Deputy Speaker, finally, I remain of the respectful and firm view that BBI and its proposals to amend the Constitution are the unpleasant result of an unfortunate process aimed at settling political scores. All the proposals can be effected without tampering with the Constitution by faithfully implementing the Constitution---"
}