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{
    "id": 1415403,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1415403/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 148,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugenya, MDG",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "There have also been situations where this House guides the Senate and vice versa, sometimes in words and manners that do not promote amity and comity of working together as the two Houses. That is why I believe this Bill is very important in deciding how best these two Houses are going to work. There have been situations where the Senate thinks it is a superior House. In fact, there is a situation where we have encouraged forum shopping. People think that when you go to the Senate, you get a better result than when you come to the National Assembly and vice versa . The recent example is the issue of Shakahola. In my opinion, there was no iota of jurisdiction, authority or legal power on the Senate to engage on the matter. But before the competent committees of the National Assembly could get into the matter, the Senate had already set up a special committee on matters they have no competence on and on matters that they could not force anybody to act on anything. So, the National Assembly is left back- handed and yet, it has the instruments and should be able to deal with that. I believe that once this Bill is passed - and I am happy that the two Speakers we have today - one having been a governor and the other a senator - understand what needs to be done. We hope that when this is passed, other things will be done. I could not agree with Hon. Pukose more. If you look at the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, there is so much that needs to be done by the Senators to promote and enhance devolution, and you wonder why they want to put their fingers on matters that do not concern them at all. Currently, there is a lot of corruption in the counties. Last week, I remember saying that county assemblies cannot pass a Bill on housing. It is the same thing because the Senate has refused to go out of its way to legislate on matters that are spelt out in the Fourth Schedule. In fact, they should make model laws for all the county assemblies to follow in areas like health, agriculture, water, sports and housing. But all the time, they are busy on matters that do not concern them at all. I hope that with the passage of this Bill, everyone will know their lane and where there are issues, people will resolve them in a manner that promotes the good sense of these Houses. As I finalise, I want to make a request to our courts. Our courts are too eager to engage in matters that do not concern them. Our courts are trigger-happy such that every time someone goes to court on a matter touching on Parliament, they are like a fish that has seen a hook and sinker. There is no single day that our courts have recused themselves on matters that are touching on Parliament. Never! I request our courts to understand that there are matters where intervention is not required. No one has ever questioned why someone goes to court over Bills 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"
}