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{
    "id": 396536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/396536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. G.G. Kariuki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 330,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Gitahi Kariuki",
        "slug": "gg-kariuki"
    },
    "content": "Anyway, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that is your role to discipline him, not me. But what I am saying here, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, is that let us appear – not just appear – let us be seen to be above these county governments because we are there to assist them to succeed in the new dispensation; that is our job. We should not to try and appear as if we want to manage their day to day business. So, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, no one in this Senate would want to be seen as if the Senate is being controlled by a certain force outside the Senate. Equally, county governments are political bodies and, therefore, they should also be given the respect they deserve. They need to be supported by the Senate to enable them do the job they are mandated to do. The only thing we should be concerned with is when they try to get out of their mandate or what the Constitution says. We need to exercise that mandate without fear or favour, and that is the only way our people will know that the Senate is there for a purpose, because most people today have not been able to understand. What if a Senator does not have the money to give the public like in the form of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) and they are not also there in the counties, where billions of shillings have been sent from the national Government? Unless we appear to be managing that money from here to make sure that something is done and we are associated with that kind of management, it is going to be very difficult for the Senate. That is why I am saying, from the word go, that what we did by trying to ask that this Motion be amended, I think we did the right thing. It was a very good thing for this House that we had this opportunity to talk about the powers that we do have. We are not going to be used either by the county governments or by any Committee of this House. This House will remain supreme for all the Committees, because that is the only way we can be seen as if we are here for a purpose. So, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, just imagine in Laikipia, for example, the county governor, the chief secretary or the Clerk and the speaker himself, if they decide to take this kind of money and they agree in-house that that they will take Kshs500 million, who is capable of discovering that among us? There is no Senator, Controller and Auditor- General or even the Government or Government officer who will be able to investigate the county, the way I know this country has invested in corruption. None of the people will be able to do that; and that Kshs500 million will just go and disappear. Our duty here 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."
}