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{
"id": 1234919,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1234919/?format=api",
"text_counter": 35,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, pursuant to Standing Order No.57(1), I hereby present the business of the Senate for the week commencing Tuesday, 25th April, 2023. In so far as legislative business is concerned, there are 26 Bills that have been published in the Senate. Out of these Bills, 17 are due for Second Reading Stage and four are at the Committee of the Whole Stage. A further four Bills are undergoing concurrence, pursuant to Article 110 of the Constitution, and one Bill was enacted into law. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have explained time without number that anytime we hit the magical 24, you have seen Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, though the Whip on the minority side is not here, neither is his deputy--- We expect that when we reach that particular number because of many challenges of how this House operates, we request that the House--- I want to appreciate because Members have always indulged us whenever we request that we go to a Division for any of these Bills listed here. I wish to plead with Members that when we get to that particular time, we transact any of these Bills, either at Second Reading or Third Reading, so that we conclude on the business that is before the House and move on with other things. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in a situation where we have Bills stuck at either Second Reading or Third Reading. As indicated in today’s Order Paper, at Order No.8, the Division of Revenue Bill, (National Assembly Bills No.9 of 2023) is pending division at the Second Reading Stage. At Order No.9, the Bill has been scheduled for the Committee of the Whole. This is a critical financial instrument whose passage will give way to the publication of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. Another critical financial instrument before the House is the Equalization Fund Appropriation Bill (Senate Bills No.3 of 2023), which seeks to unlock funds under the Equalization Fund for utilization by counties in the Financial Year 2022/2023 by 30th June, 2023. Members will recall that it took us close to 10 years to strike a deal on this matter of Equalization Fund. For the Senate to be at this point where we are considering this particular Bill, it is great. I hope that today after we are done with the Division of Revenue Bill, we shall quickly move on to consider the Equalization Fund Appropriation Bill. Members can debate on it and eventually, if possible for Members to hang around a little bit, we shall conclude the particular Bill which I have indicated that it is a critical financial instrument. For that reason, I cannot overemphasize the importance of the passage of these crucial Bills. I, therefore, urge the Party Whips of both the majority and minority sides to mobilize the requisite number of Senators for the voting process at both stages. With regard to Petitions, the Senate has so far received 13 Petitions that have been committed to respective Standing Committees, pursuant to Standing Order 238(1). Five Petitions are due for reporting by the Standing Committees on Roads, Transportation and"
}