Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1492968,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1492968/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 286,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Central Imenti, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Moses Kirima",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Can I be given a chance? This is a very serious matter, Hon. Millie, which requires a lot of attention from all of us. Before I came to this august House, I used to practice constitutional law as a lawyer in the corridors of courts. I used to study the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament. I knew that there was a difference between the roles of the National Assembly and the roles of the Senate. I knew very well that the Senate was meant to participate, supervise, oversee and protect county governments and all issues that are relevant to counties. At the same time, I knew very well that the National Assembly's major mandate was to legislate, oversee the national government and do anything which pertains to the public as it relates to matters concerning the Executive. Those are the things I knew before I came to this House. When I came here, I realised that from the year 2013, when we came up with a bicameral house, the Executive, in one way or another, decided to cajole with the Senate to an extent that it allowed or it started cohabiting with the Senate to subtract the strength of the National Assembly by allowing it to form committees which is not allowed by the Constitution. The Senate summons the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Education and anybody concerned with university matters or higher learning institutions matters. At the same time, the Senate goes ahead and summons the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and the one for Defence. One wonders which county matters relate to the defence of this country and one wonders how county matters relate to university matters. The other day, as we were handling Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital matters, the Senate was doing the same and yet, it had nothing to do with the Senate. When we were handling matters to do with defence, the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) issues, the Senate was also handling the same matters. So, the Senate and the National Assembly, end up giving contradictory rulings and opinions. The National Assembly and the Senate are respectable Houses, which should be coming up with answers that do not contradict because the public expects to be protected by these two Houses. One does that at the county and the other at the national level. It is high time the three arms of Government sat down, not just the two Speakers, to iron out their issues and avoid duplication of work by the two Houses. If I am not wrong, I will say as it has been said before that the Senate has very little work to do. It should be meeting only when it is dealing with county issues. If we interpret the Constitution well as it is, the Senate should not even be sitting daily because it has no work to do. The Senate should be meeting on quarterly basis or once per year. This way, it will get work from county governments. It has failed to play its role of protecting the national resources that we allocate to county governments. Therefore, governors have gone all the way…"
}