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{
    "id": 386258,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/386258/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 87,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mugo",
    "speaker_title": "The Nominated Senator",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 85,
        "legal_name": "Beth Wambui Mugo",
        "slug": "beth-mugo"
    },
    "content": " Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support the Presidential Address. Before I do that, I would like to congratulate you, Mr. Deputy Speaker and Mr. Speaker, for being elected to the high office in this Chamber. This is because of your past record. I also want to congratulate all the Senators, especially those elected who went through the campaigns because I know how tough that can be. Your people had faith in you. I also want to congratulate the nominated Senators because they were nominated for a reason and it is because of the service that they have given before. We also have both Leaders of the Majority and the Minority and the Whips. We are ready to work with you. Let me, on the outset; appreciate the President’s Speech which I found to be full of substance. The agenda was complete and I believe it reflected on where His Excellency said that he intends to reduce on the cost of the household basket including housing, energy and transport for all Kenyans. Nowhere in his Speech does he speak without talking about every Kenyan. This shows that the President, in his mind, sees Kenya as a whole and not a portion of it. I believe that it would be unfair to start criticizing before we see whether the actions will follow the Speech, which I believe will and have started. I was surprised to hear my colleague and friend, the Senate Leader of Minority, say that this Speech had no substance and that it did not show how the President was going to realize the things he had outlined here. While he has been a Minister like I, and we all know that what the President said is a broad outline of his policy; actualization of planning or the policy details come from the Ministers. That is the Ministers’ responsibilities. When they look at this Speech and other policy documents, it is for them to craft each Ministry’s policy and the Principal Secretaries to implement. So, I was rather shocked, surprised and wondered why a former Minister can stand here and say that it had no substance. That, to me, seemed to be the same rhetoric which we had on the campaign trail which has now been brought to this Senate. I believe that this House is one of mature leaders. That is why we are the Upper House. That is how we used to speak in the Lower House. I believe that there must be a difference. We should show the way. At one time this House was referred to as the “House of wazee ”. I think Wazees are the ones who give advice; who have shown maturity in bringing families together. Therefore, we, as Senators, believe that our biggest duty is to bring the Kenyan nation together and to support our leaders in doing that. 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."
}