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{
"id": 1443606,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1443606/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
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"content": "oversight, legislation and representation. We have to make our people understand that legislators are not there to manage funds or to do what the national Government is supposed to do. They are there to oversight, represent and make laws. That must come out very clearly because many people, when you ask them, some of them do not understand what the Senate does. We must take that opportunity to also educate them and have an engagement with them. Therefore, we need to have an in- chamber engagement and also have an out-of-the-chamber engagement, in order to create awareness among the people and to engage the public so that they feel they are part of it. We missed out on this when we were in Turkana. The limited way we did it was probably through the committees. Nonetheless, we needed a session of the whole House to meet the public stakeholders in Turkana to engage them on issues of awareness of the role of Senate and issues affecting the people of Turkana. It is also important for them to understand the legislative procedures, particularly the issue of how do they petition the Senate. I see so many people writing petitions to this House, even from my county, but in most cases, those petitions are not processed fully perhaps because they are not in the right form of a petition or they have not been processed in the right manner. People have issues, but because of those small challenges, you find that the issues are not able to come before us. We also need time to engage them and tell them how they should do their petitions and bring their issues before the Senate for consideration. I think that is very important. We should also use that opportunity to strengthen partnerships, not just with the county assembly, but also with the executive arm of the county. We also need to strengthen our partnership with the communities, the civil society and all the various stakeholder groups in Busia County and that will require adequate planning and preparation towards that. As I said earlier, Busia County is very unique. Busia County is where our distinguished Clerk, who has done a lot of work for this Parliament, comes from. I think it is just fair for us to thank him by visiting his county which is Busia County. Busia County is where the Senator who has been a leading light in defense of the public, Sen. Okiya Omtatah, a man who does not fear saying the truth comes from. This is a man who said before the President that I am taking you to court and, indeed, he went to court over the Finance Bill, 2023. In this country if we had ten Omtatah’s, we would be somewhere. By going to Busia, it will also be a demonstration that we value the contribution of Sen. Omtatah on matters governance in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not want to go beyond that, but just to say that Busia is a neighboring county. You have to pass through Vihiga County before you go to Busia. We will be using that opportunity to also request the Senate to consider matters of infrastructure. The road from Kisumu through Maseno, Luanda, Yala and all the way to Ugunja to Busia, it is high time that that road be made a dual carriageway because of the high traffic, linkage to Uganda and other key counties within the region. That is the best thing that can come out of this Senate Mashinani. This is not just for Busia but the neighboring counties of Vihiga, Siaya, Kakamega, and even Bungoma. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}