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{
    "id": 1162371,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1162371/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "something. They were offering just for us to continue because we had suspended Parliament. We had suspended the voice of the people and they said we cannot suspend since technology can help us. The virtual sittings have been good for our Committees. I have never seen such quorum as we have experience since COVID-19 when I am chairing Committees. We had Members of that Committee operating from different part of the country; Nyamira, Mombasa, Kajiado and many other place. We were able to conduct our meetings with all the nine Members present online. It has come to a point that instead of using this cheap, free software that is prone to a lot of interference, and instability, we must be creative as a parliament. We do not even need to engage these big companies, that this now becomes another big tender of billions for Microsoft or Oracle or ACP or those people. There are young people of this country who are capable. We passed the Start-Up Bill (Senate Bills No. 1 of 2021) in this House last year. If you say tomorrow that we are inviting any young people who will do a hacker space to come and innovate for a seamless virtual parliament, you will have hundreds of applications with simulations of what we can do. Why do we ignore the vibrancy and innovation we have in this country? If you go today to the Nailab or iHub, you will see a lot of innovations by the young people. There are other innovations hubs in Turkana and the Coast. Our young people have these ideas but they know it will be a tender that will go to the Parliamentary Service Commission and the big boys will come in the manner that they have always come and it goes yet our young people can do it. It is a discussion we should have at the SBS. I do not think you can give directions on that though I am not limiting your powers you can give direction. Since 2018 we have not been able to vote using these electronic devices, what are they here for? These machines that costed hundreds of millions here are not working. Why do we vote through roll call in 2022 yet we should just say yes or no and we vote in a minute? For all our Bill in the Senate every amendment, every Clause we have to vote and people are lining up to be called from Sen. Dullo to Sen. Wetangula alphabetically yet we have technology. In fact, we need a serious audit of the Parliamentary Service Commission because these facilities should be working. I sympathize with Sen. Mwaura. I agree with Sen. Kajwang who is an expert in this field. Many of us have some expertise here and there in this field. Let us invite and use the strength of our young people. If we told the young people from Nairobi or Homabay to come up with solutions, they will give them to us. Secondly, from what Sen. Cherargei is saying, the SBC passed that if a person does not Move his or Motion or Bill, it should be dropped. However, this is an important report. Skipping sittings might be a ploy to drop it. We have an exemption on this report. This is about misuse of COVID-19 funds. We do not want it dropped, we want that discussion. The direction you must give is that if the Chairperson of the Committee on Health is not available to move this report any Member of that Committee should be able to"
}