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{
    "id": 1193174,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1193174/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 300,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "who can face and tell them if something is wrong. The work is left to the three colleagues that we send to the PSC. Earlier on when we had a discussion, I heard colleagues wishing that we would get to a point where there is proper representation. This will be the Third Commission since the promulgation of the new Constitution. I do not understand why the Senate has lesser representation than Members of the National Assembly. Unfortunately, this is not something that we, from the majority side, can cure. This is because from our side, we have two representatives from the National Assembly and two in the Senate. Unfortunately, the Minority side has always stuck to the practice of having two representatives from the National Assembly and one from the Senate. It is time we challenged our party leadership and demanded that if two representatives come from one House during a particular term of Parliament, in the next dispensation, it is prudent that the other House produces also two representatives. The PSC is an important organ in our Constitution. There are many decisions that are made, including the most important one which is budgetary allocation. When we had a Kamukunji today, I alluded to some of the things that we hope that we shall achieve when we sign the consent between us and the National Assembly. I hope we will get to point of agreeing, where we shall be properly remunerated, not in terms of allowances, but because of the offices that we hold to enable Senators to oversight billions of shillings that are send to the county governments. It is a tragedy that the past three Commissions have not achieved this, not because of lack of capacity on their side or lack of willingness, but because our colleagues in the National Assembly, especially those who sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly. Sen. Onyonka used to be a Member. On many occasions, I appeared before you pleading this case. You know how passionate we have been about this course. I hope you will use your former contacts in that particular committee to have them understand that when Senators ask for oversight funds, it is not money to go to our pockets. It is money to ensure that citizens enjoy the fruits of devolution as per the dictates of our Constitution. That is all that we are looking for. We are looking for money to check what county governments are doing. As I speak, all the 47 county governments are in breach of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act because of a single item. No single county has staff below the mandatory 35 per cent. All of them have passed the ceiling because most of them are above 40 per cent. A governor hires staff before leaving the office and when a new one comes in, he hires more. I have seen stories of governors having 10 advisors. There are those who have advisors for economy, hairdressing and all those are just bizarre. As a House, we must find ways of checking these mechanisms. The tragedy is that the structure of the office of a Senator makes them want to have a feel of how the county operates. However, it is not possible for a Senator to use the constituency office allocation to hire professionals to work for him. Mr. Speaker, Sir, one of the provisions that we hope to put in place with the Senate Oversight Fund is additional funds that will enable us put in place an office that"
}