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{
    "id": 1370272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1370272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 16,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Senators, during the Second Session, the Senate participated in two critical events that play an immense role in protecting and upholding the devolved governance structure in Kenya. These were the First Biannual Devolution Conference that took place from the 15th to the 19th August, 2023 in Eldoret, Uasin-Gishu County and the Senate Mashinani held from the 25th to 29th September 2023 in Lodwar, Turkana County. The lessons learnt from these two events continue to shape the discourse on how the Senate undertakes its mandate. The Senate must undertake an introspection in relation to the lessons learnt and devise strategies, including legislative interventions, to address pertinent issues that arose from the two events. Therefore, I urge Standing Committees to critically interrogate the communique from the Devolution Conference and experiences from the Senate Mashinani in Turkana County and play a pro-active role in the opportunities available and finding solutions to the challenges observed. Hon. Senators, as we begin the Third Session, it is important to reflect on the business transacted in the Second Session. Eleven Bills were considered and enacted into law. Out of these, five were Senate Bills and six were National Assembly Bills. By the end of the Second Session, 22 Petitions were concluded by the respective Standing Committees, 61 substantive Motions on diverse matters were adopted, 254 Statements pursuant to Standing Order No.53(1) were concluded by the respective committees while 52 questions were responded to by the relevant Cabinet Secretaries. From the foregoing, my attention is drawn to the length of time in which Bills are considered in the Senate. There are currently 44 Bills pending conclusion in the Senate, out of which nine are National Assembly Bills and 35 are Senate Bills. On the other hand, there are eight Senate Bills pending conclusion in the National Assembly. This illustrates the work cut out for the Senate in this session. For this reason, we must change the strategy to ensure that legislative business is expedited in the Third Session. I call upon the Senate leadership to lead us in this respect. With the same breath, I also urge Chairpersons of Committees to hasten consideration of pending business in their respective committees and table the reports thereon pursuant to the Standing Orders. I wish to inform hon. Senators that as per the standing parliamentary practice, Motions that are not concluded by the end of the Second Session are deemed to have lapsed. In view of this, the Senators wishing to pursue the Motions will have to file them afresh. Similar to Motions, Questions that had not been responded to by the end of the Second Session also lapsed and Senators wishing to pursue them will be required to file the Questions afresh. Hon. Senators, as has been the tradition at the commencement of every new Session, the Senate will this week receive the Budget Policy Statement (BPS), the draft Division of Revenue Bill, the draft Count Allocation of Revenue Bill and the draft County Government Additional Allocations Bill. As we consider these financial instruments, our cardinal duty must be to safeguard the interests of counties and their governments as enshrined in Article 96 of the Constitution."
}