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{
    "id": 385210,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/385210/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Hassan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 431,
        "legal_name": "Hassan Omar Hassan Sarai",
        "slug": "hassan-omar-hassan-sarai"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, in legal jargon, we talk about taking judicial notice. When a fact is a fact, it is non contestable. Unless those facts change, the Senate remains the House of reference as the Upper House of this Republic. We must always interpret the Constitution both in letter and spirit. The spirit of the Constitution and the spirit of the entire Kenyan public was that when they were voting for Senators, they were voting for the Members of the Upper House. That is why people with distinguished careers like hon. Sen. Wetangula, Sen. G. G. Kariuki, Sen. Amos Wako, Sen. Haji and Sen. Murungi, among others, are here. These are Members who could have won any particular seat in their constituencies. Why did they opt to go for the Office of the Senator? To make my point before I leave, devolution did not come to prejudice any of us. Many people of Mombasa still complain about marginalisation notwithstanding the fact that we see super highways and roads in Mombasa County. The fact that there are physical structures of development in Mombasa, should not delude anybody to believe that Mombasa does not need money to commensurate the services there. I agree with the Senator for Nyeri County and the other Senators from counties which will be most severely harmed by any deficit when we start devolution on a wrong footing. Mombasa needs more than Kshs4 billion to run its transactions. For us to say that there is a formula that has been developed disenfranchises the possibility of Mombasa to meet its own obligations and starts devolution on the wrong footing. Therefore, this House must move with the kind of speed that will ensure that no county will start its transactions as a county government with deficits. We will be joining hands, in this House, to move an amendment that ensures that we secure services that are rendered by this county that have been severely disarmed on the basis of devolution vote. I believe that we need, more and more, to question all counties as we go into devolution. Mombasa is the second highest contributor to the country’s GDP. I have seen that we have been ranked 23rd in the allocation of quarters. I think devolution was not supposed to do a Robin Hood kind of strategy that you take from those who have and give those who do not have. It meant that you equalize the society so that everybody has an equal ability to compete. Finally, I think we need to continue to change the philosophies of this Government. I come from the Human Rights background. Many of you here come from different backgrounds. I made reference to Article 19(1) and (2) of the Constitution. That is on the fundamental rights and freedoms. The Constitution must not only look at the possibility of equality of counties, but the most important equality that we need to promote which is the equality of every human being who lives within the territory of Kenya. It also talks about elements of social justice which effectively mean that the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}