Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1227589,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1227589/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 297,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I also want to join my colleagues’ Senators and the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Cheruiyot in celebrating the ten years that the Senate has been in place. I will not repeat the salutations of Senators who have left a mark in this House. I think the Senate Majority Leader has done very well in giving a very good summary. However, a challenge has been thrown our way this afternoon by the Senate Majority Leader, that we must also leave a mark. Listening to the contributions and confessions this afternoon, including what I have heard from Sen. Mungatana, it is evident that the people who gathered in Naivasha had one agenda, to mutilate and weaken this House. As we celebrate our brothers who have moved from the other House, including Sen. Cheptumo, Sen. Khalwale, Sen. Mungatana, Sen. Onyonka and Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, we must wake up to the realization that this is not the House that Kenyans intended when they created a second Chamber after Naivasha. Madam Temporary Speaker, what do we want to be remembered for? Our brothers who served in the first and second Senate made their contributions. My take is that a time has come when this House must make a resolution, the way we made a resolution and moved to the High Court, together in filing Petition No. 284. We must pass a resolution to revisit the legislative powers of the Senate. What was put in Article 96 was a deliberate effort to make us operate as a ‘Lower’ House. The tragedy is unlike the reference of the Senate of Eswatini that Sen. Mungatana has referred to, this Senate enjoys direct mandate from the people. Look at the votes that brought Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, my friend the Senator for Busia and even myself the Senator for Nyamira here. We cannot be sitting here every day, re-writing the Book of Lamentations. A time has come that we must bite the bullet and go to the annals of history as the Senate that put in place a bold move of getting back our correct legislative authority as the ‘Upper’ House. Listen to the contribution by Sen. Mungatana, we sit here representing counties yet we do not even vet Cabinet Secretaries, the Attorney General of this Republic and Principal Secretaries. That should not continue. Let us pull together. This is for posterity, in public interest, for the good of our country Kenya and in defense of devolution. I urge my colleagues, as we celebrate ten years, let us also leave a mark. Let us ask the question; what will we be celebrated for as the Fourth Senate? We cannot continue as if it is business as usual. No, things are not right. As we speak, your counterparts in the National Assembly are controlling Kshs60 million for repair of roads in each constituency and you have no say as a Senator. We tried to amend the Roads Act on the Floor of this House, but our friends and brothers from the National Assembly said that they will never allow us to have any say on the usage of that money. Yet, as a Senator, you need to know where has your Governor or Member of Parliament put money for roads, so that there is no duplication. We cannot allow a situation where there is wastage of resources. A road is done by a Governor today, then a Member of National Assembly will come the following day"
}