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{
    "id": 1123736,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1123736/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Let us be candid and honest. We should accept, as Senators, that the functions of this Senate were poorly drafted in this Constitution. Unless we retreat as Senators, deliberate on the amendments that this country needs to undertake to empower this Senate, we will be crybabies. As we sit, we are all praying that the decision that will come from the Supreme Court will be favourable to the kind of jurisprudence that is coming from the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Woe unto us if the Supreme Court upholds the views that have been expressed by the High Court and the Court of Appeal. If that is to happen, then the only recourse that we have is to push for Kenyans to relook at the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, vis-a-vis the functions and powers that were given to this House. If you go to other jurisdictions like Australia and get a Senate that gets its mandate directly from the people in that they are elected directly by the people and not picked, or selected like House of Lords in the United Kingdom, then the Lower House cannot have a more enhanced mandate than the Upper House. The Senator for Kakamega County gets elected by 11 constituencies. With that, he gets direct mandate from the people. I am told that they are 12 not even 11 constituencies. If you divide the votes that Sen. Wetangula garnered as a Senator for Bungoma County, you will realise that he can bring to the House all the Members of Parliament. That is the reality yet the National Assembly is deemed to be the one that should carry more functions than this Senate. We are living a lie. We must tell Kenyans that it is high time for us to go back to chapters 93, 94, 95 and 96 of the Constitution and make this a proper Upper House. I give credit to the jurisprudence that has come from the High Court. You remember the case that we handled with Sen. Orengo and Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. and Petition No. E284 that was that was championed by my good friend, former Chairperson of the Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Sen. Cherargei. We got a very good decision. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am sure that the National Assembly now consults you and they have now recognized your office. They have accorded your office the respect that it deserves. Let us applaud the good work that the courts have done in affirming the good work that is being done by this Senate. I have a lot faith in the counsel who was entrusted with the appeals that we filed in the Supreme Court. I want to report to the House that after the judgment that we got from the High Court last week, I consulted the counsel who is on record for Senate, Counsel Kioko Kilukumi, and he confirmed that they have already concluded submissions. He said that we are now waiting for the judgment that will be issued by the Supreme Court. I hope that in the fullness of time, when that judgement comes, it will affirm what has come from the Supreme Court before that this House has got the mandate under Article 96 of the Constitution to look at almost every piece of legislation. Every legislation that passes through this House, in one way or another, affects the counties. I want to appeal to the Judiciary. If they let these governors on the loose and send the message that they are not accountable or subject to oversight by the Senate, then that will be the end of devolution. We know what governors are capable of doing with State resources; the money we send to counties. Unless there is a strong oversight, not the one"
}