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{
    "id": 1370383,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1370383/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 127,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "for the Senate Business Committee (SBC). In fact, there are no perks that I am aware of. This is one of those committees that cannot be adjourned for lack of quorum. If you are a Member of this Committee, you must show up for meetings of this Committee. I suspect that is why the interest is not as high as the impending committee on impeachment of the deputy governor of Kisii County that I have heard about here. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it has been the privilege of my short life in this House to serve in the SBC. I know what awaits us in terms of scheduling business for this house. We have struggled with the many requests we got from Members when it came to, for instance, Question Time with Cabinet Secretaries. I know now that the minority side also fully participates on this issue of questioning Cabinet Secretaries before this House, there is going to be an overwhelming number of requests for Questions to put to Cabinet Secretaries. I can only hope that this House, through its leadership, can communicate to the Cabinet Secretaries that we would expect full cooperation from them for us to be able to execute the business of the House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I may be the only one, but every time you flip a calendar, the expectation is that you will turn a new leaf in your life. My expectation during this Session is to see the best side of my colleagues here. However, some of the comments that have already been made here have dampened my spirit and my expectation; that some of my colleagues returned here being the very same people we said goodbye to in December. Through the sort of debate that we are going to have here, I was hoping to see a change. That, we are new people and would give opportunity to new ideas and new thoughts. That, we will listen to each other better and not use this opportunity to rile up each other. If, for instance, there is a critical matter such as a matter that was involving both sides of the political divide as a bipartisan report, some of the comments that I have had from my colleagues leave me very wary of what we can expect in this Session. I know the Senate Majority Leader must have been as offended as I have been by some of the comments directed at a committee that he served very ably and was able to midwife a child under very difficult political circumstances. Mr. Speaker, Sir, also last year we had cautioned that as a House, we should not be pre-empting our own business so that people should not be anticipating debate and making comments that lend themselves to some of the attacks we have received as a House; that, matters come here when there is already a predetermined outcome. It has broken my heart for people to speak about business that might come before this House in a manner that suggests that decisions have already been reached even before we are seized of those matters. It is quite heart-breaking that indeed some people turn the calendars in their houses, but they never turn a new leaf in their own lives and in their own conduct as elected leaders. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to reiterate my commitment as a proposed Member of this Committee, that, in fact, if approved by this House, I will dedicate my time as required to be able to conduct the business of the SBC. Ordinarily, we should not speak"
}