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{
    "id": 1270354,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1270354/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 442,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "brothers in the National Assembly. Sen. Cherarkey is not proposing that Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale goes and sit in this Project Identification and Implementation Committee. He is not proposing that Senators should go and sit as members in that committee, but he is making a proposal, which I fully identify and agree with, that your office, as Senator of Kakamega, should get an opportunity to nominate people from your office who will sit in that committee that we should call PIIC. How does the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) operate? The people at the local constituency identify the Member of Parliament as the person who dishes out bursary, the one who identifies road projects that should get money, and the one who decides which school gets money. I am sure Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale knows this better than I do because he has been an MP. The only entry for an MP is that mandate given to him to nominate people. In fact, nowadays, it is not even to nominate, the law has changed. Nowadays, they pick representatives to sit in the committee that interviews people who will sit in the CDF board. Since he picks people from his office who sit in the interviewing panel, the way it is done here with the Sub- County administrator or the Deputy County Commissioner (DCC), he has representatives whom he picks, which makes him have an entry of having a say on the operations of CDF. The law only says that when the projects are being launched, the committee will invite the MP to come and witness. Why can we not borrow that legal framework, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale? All that we are saying, as Sen. Oketch Gicheru has reminded us, if you read Article 204, this is a national Government Fund. This is not a fund that is managed by a Governor. It is not. In the last Parliament, we had a big fight on this Floor. What was the fight about? We were just trying to expand the presence of elected leaders in determining which roads should get funds from the Rural Roads Board Authority. The National Assembly had amended the law and decreed that the MP will pick two representatives to sit in that board. We said, so that we have parity, let also the office of the Senator pick two nominees. Just two. It was a big fight. They said we do not want to see the presence of a Senator anywhere. These guys are going to make us share power. We do not want. That is not the way it should be. Let the country accept that we have now embraced a devolved system of government. We do not sit here like the House of Lords. We are elected directly by the people. I do not know the number of votes Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale got, but I am sure it is not less than 100,000 votes. It could even be 200,000. You can imagine. How can somebody, who has direct mandate because they queued and voted for you with 300, not have a say at all in picking somebody who will have a say on what roads need to be put some murram? It is a fallacy because we are treated like we are the House of Lords. Madam Temporary Speaker, the House of Lords in England are never elected by anybody. The best we can compare this House to is the Senate of Australia and the Senate of the United States of America (USA) because those ones also get direct mandate from the people. In those jurisdictions, because of the area you campaign--- Sen. Khalwale campaigns in 12 constituencies and I am lucky mine is four. We then serve a term of five years like a Member of the National Assembly, who campaigns in a smaller area. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}