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{
"id": 1376090,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1376090/?format=api",
"text_counter": 224,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
"speaker": null,
"content": "business of an individual acting in a position for six months, if that individual cannot be confirmed to that position? It means that every judgment is pointing to the inability of that individual to perform the duty. Then why do we have to retain them for six months or 12 months if they are unable? We should be looking at building institutions, not individuals. Any individual is replaceable in any entity, institution or position. We cannot retain certain positions for individuals. That would mean that our institutions are so weak that they cannot stand in the absence of a certain individual. There is a point to be made about the social fabric of this country. We are bemoaning a situation of a drunken population, misuse of drugs and abuse of alcohol. We are talking about social ills like the femicide matter that we were prosecuting here on Valentine's Day. How does it connect to this topic? It connects in this way: In the African tradition, there was a very good demarcation of work that should be done by each age set. In my culture, there was a place for the Njama, Kiama and the warrior. The warrior position, which is what we call the working population today, was the preserve of individuals in their prime. At your prime, you can work and defend the community. You have the energy, urgency and wherewithal to work hard at that age of a warrior. Then you graduate to the decision- making body, the lower house, which is the Njama . When you perform very well in the Njama, then you can be accommodated into the Kiama . The Kiama stands at the prime at the top. This is the advisory role. You have already retired from active duty. You have already retired from superintending, and now you are at the level of oversight and offering wisdom. What happens today? We have individuals who have spent their entire lives working in one institution and, even at the age of 70, they are still holding onto those positions. Those individuals will never get the opportunity to spend time with their children, wives and grandchildren. So, what happens? There is nobody today at home to advise the young people on what they should do with their lives. People are being held in positions beyond their working years to an extent that the fabric of the society is disintegrating. The point I am making is that individuals can give their best years to Public Service up to the age of 55, after which they can get time to retire back home and give the knowledge and wisdom they have accrued to the next generation. That way, we shall be able to start facing the problems head-on, such as drug addiction, alcohol abuse and negative masculinity. Young boys do not have people to mentor them because their parents and their grandparents are stuck in offices up to the age of 65 and beyond. Some dispensations and jurisdictions have a place for someone who has worked extremely well. Look at the personality of the Member for Kamukunji. If we were in such dispensations like in the United Kingdom (UK), if you have served with distinction and notably you have a special skill that must be retained for the service of the country, they have automatic admission to the House of Lords, which is the equivalent of our Senate. So much so that the brilliant people who have served in public service and have the wherewithal, wisdom and energy to continue serving have a place where they can upwardly be displaced to serve even better. The point I am making here is that it is time we relook at our Constitution and look at how the bicameral House has served us for the last 10 or 11 years, and see if there is a way we can make the Senate a bit more esteemed and useful to our country, by having positions where we can admit exemplary individuals who have served in the Public Service. Those we think have something that we can retain beyond the years that are given for public service. To my mind that place, if we were to amend the Constitution, would be the Senate. That way, we would be moving it to be the ultimate upper House. As we speak, the Senate is even struggling to find its footing in the pecking order because the power of the purse and the budget is in this House; to an extent that, at times, the Senate is found to have no business to do. They have to look for business from the National Assembly to go and prosecute in the Senate. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}