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{
    "id": 1374047,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1374047/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 128,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I feel privileged to stand here and second this momentous Report that was arrived at from the discussions of the NADCO. I begin by thanking my colleague Senators who graciously approved my nomination to sit in the NADCO and the team that was chosen by the Majority Side during the discussions. We would not have achieved what we did without the spirit of give and take. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I must say that it was not easy at the beginning. When we arrived at the Bomas of Kenya, at the beginning there was a very hostile environment. The other side had their room for tea and we had our own. We sized each other up for two or three days, but finally, we decided to put Kenya first and our personal interests at the back. Therefore, the Report that has been moved by the Senate Majority Leader is the work of many hands, brains and mouths. This process had a wide public engagement with more than 700 Kenyans sending memoranda to the Committee. We even had Senators appear before the Committee, including my good friend, Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC, and Sen. Wambua. More than 60 Kenyans and interest groups appeared before us. We expected to see Sen. Cherarkey but he never made it to Bomas. This input has gone through intense public participation and it is not a product of the political class. It is a product that has come from the views that we have received from many Kenyans. Mr. Speaker, Sir, annexed to the Report is a proposal to amend a few articles of our Constitution. There have been arguments which I want to disapprove this afternoon from a number of Kenyans that our Constitution was promulgated 14 years ago and it is too soon to attempt to amend any article of our Constitution. An advanced democracy like the USA has had its constitution for more than 200 years and they did the first amendment after five years of the passage of the American Constitution. They were a raft of amendments. The first 12 amendments of the American Constitution were done in a record five years. You will see most Kenyans saying on television that the American Constitution has never been amended. No, the American Constitution has been amended a record 27 times. There have been 33 initiatives to amend it but only 27 have gone through. So, in any country, when you have a constitution a time comes when you have to review and fix what is not working."
}