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{
    "id": 1227557,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1227557/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 265,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "However, because he stood from in defence of this House, unfortunately, he never made it as he would have wished to return as a Speaker of this House. I know that that is a huge prize he paid, but we continue to celebrate him. I celebrate him each day. He is one of the gentlemen who went for one reason or the other. Whenever I bump into him, I bow in honour because of what he did for this institution during very difficult times. These included days when police officers were sent to cordon off the House of Parliament. He stopped debate for close to 30 minutes until police officers moved away from Parliament. You know who had sent the police officers then. It was not an easy decision. Mr. Speaker, Sir, that seat you are sitting on, sometimes calls on you to make very difficult decisions in defence of this House. For that reason, I celebrate Sen. Ekwe Ethuro. Secondly, the Cabinet Secretary, Sen. (Prof. Kindiki) served as our first Senate Majority Leader on this side of the House where I lead. I had the privilege of serving under him as a new Senator. He guided many of us that were new to Parliament then. Even though it was his first term of Parliament, he had quickly learned the ropes and guided us. He afforded us the opportunity to lay a firm foundation. I believe that is what has guided many of us to secure and set up a firm foundation. He led in the institutionalizing of bipartisan approach on matters concerning the role and the place of Senate and devolution. That is something which unfortunately, this House still continues to grapple with. Over time, I hope as Senate Majority Leader together with my counterpart, the Senate Minority Leader, we shall indoctrinate the current crop of colleague Senators, to appreciate that while we may disagree on the politics of the day, when it comes to matters in defence of devolution and the institution of the Senate, we fight together like brothers and sisters. We stand our ground together and we ensure that we stand and achieve that. That is one of the leading ethics and teachings of Sen. (Prof) Kindiki in this House when he spoke many afternoons. The Rt. Hon. Speaker of the National Assembly, Speaker Wetangula then as the Senate Minority Leader had very interesting debates on many afternoons. I wish I said this when many of our colleague Senators were here in the afternoon because I continue to see in this House an unfortunate emerging trend where debate is losing its space. I enjoyed those afternoons as a newcomer into this House. Even though people were saying extremely difficult and sometimes harsh things to each other, those that were being spoken to kept quiet and allowed colleagues to make their point first before rising to counter whatever was being argued. That is a culture of debate; that is what Parliament is about. That is a culture which Sen. Wetangula deeply espouses. Many afternoons he kept this House entertained with his quotes from various books. Sen. Orengo, Second Senate Minority Leader, now Governor of Siaya County stood steadfast in his defence of the Senate, together with other senior counsel from this House. They defended the Senate when we went to the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Unfortunately, because of his many engagements now in Siaya County, he has not been able to do that at the Supreme Court. However, he is being ably helped by our"
}