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"content": "The tentative business for meeting for the morning sitting on Wednesday 20th will include businesses that will not have been responded to. Question Nos. 53, 71, 82, 94, 98, 118, 119, 125 are Statements to the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development by the various Senators. That Minister will be appearing this coming week. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Question No.125 to the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy by Sen. Richard Onyonka will be appearing. Hon. Members yesterday expressed great dissatisfaction by the failure by Members of the Cabinet to appear in this House despite business being listed. I had not thought about this, so members of the Secretariat should not consider that I am being unfair to them. However, I saw the letter after we had SBC. You remember there are Members of Cabinet that were informed that if for one reason or the other, you are unable to appear before the House, the statutory timeline expected by law is at least seven days before the date of appearance. You cannot ambush the Speaker with a letter, minutes to appearance or a day to. Unfortunately, the letter that I saw was very kind. Even the Minister reading it will simply smile. We were specific that the letter that should go to the Cabinet Secretaries that did not appear to this House should cite both the provisions of the law and the sanctions that can fall on them for failure to appear before this House. It cannot be that Members take their time to appear and look forward to interacting with Members of the Cabinet who up to a few minutes before their appearance ambush the Speaker with letters for one reason or the other, unless somebody is indisposed like the CS for the Ministry of Health was, this week. You can understand that everybody is a human being and can fall sick. However, for the rest, that is agreeable. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will be proposing to the SBC that if Members of Secretariat will do with your help and that of the other leaders, we are more than glad to draft that letter together so that the Cabinet can appreciate the importance of this Session. There are various Bills that are at the Committee of the Whole stage. They include the Street Vendors, Local Content Bill, Early Childhood, Land Amendment, and Cooperatives Bill, which I hope we can conclude on. There are various Motions as well that are before our committees, which I do hope that we can conclude on. Mr. Speaker, Sir, lastly, on Thursday the 21st of November, 2024, His Excellency the President Dr. William Samoei Ruto will be making the State of the Nation Address to both Houses of Parliament, in accordance with Article 132(1)(b) of the Constitution. I am sure you shall be communicating the same as usual to guide us on the necessary procedures and arrangements made for our attendance in the National Assembly Chamber of this annual exercise. I am looking forward to hear on what is the State of the Nation and the concerns that citizens have and a report card to Parliament as a tool of accountability to share what his administration has achieved, so far. I hereby thank you and lay this Statement on the Table of the Senate."
}