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"content": "that the country passed even before the election. Most of those who contested the seat of Governor are deemed to have been aware that, in fact, under Section 91 (f), there is a provision for Senators and elected Members to participate in county issues. Therefore, it is not a favour that we are asking for. It is something that is in the law and we must enforce. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to also put it to those people, particularly Governors and other people who have vehemently opposed and bedeviled my good friend, Sen. Sang. I am also aware that you were booed at a funeral sometime back about the same issue. The fact of the matter is that under Section 36 of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) Act, we as a country, have also another forum called the County Projects Committee. In this committee that most counties have not put in place, you will find the Senator, Governor, Members of Parliament, members of the CDF, members of the national Government, et cetera . So, Sen. Sang has not reinvented the wheel. He is just implementing what already exists in law in terms of constituencies. We are now moving it to another level in the counties. So, I support him and agree entirely with all the sentiments that have been expressed here. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, most people have personalized this debate without considering the law. Since we were taught in Law School that ignorance of the law is not an excuse, I, therefore, repeat that this Bill is anchored straight in the law. I will refer to Article 96, particularly on the argument as to whether or not the Senators ought to chair these proposed boards. The role of the Senate, as envisioned in Article 96 is oversight. Any definition of oversight that does not include chairing is not a definition of oversight. For us to effectively manage this role of oversight, we cannot be in any other position other than that of the chairperson. To accept any other role would be, as a Senate, violating the Constitution because the people of Kenya said that the Senate will conduct oversight of county governments and county assemblies. Therefore, the argument that “the Senators are looking for work” and all those paid advertisements that “we have been doing this for purposes of looking for other seats at some time later in future” is not, again, anchored in law. It is misplaced and, therefore, it is fair that we tell the country that the role of the Senate vis-à-vis this Board is anchored in Article 96 of the Constitution and the County Governments Act. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in terms of the functions, it is in the public domain, particularly in my County of Makueni, that my Governor almost resigned – and I have no personal issues with him – because he was having problems from whatever sources, Members of the County Assembly (MCAs), et cetera . My role as Senator was to attend and arbitrate, which I did. But I was doing it informally in boardrooms, meetings, telephone calls, through elders, et cetera . But if a forum of this nature was there at the time when the County Assembly of Makueni and the Governor were having a tiff, then this sort of thing would not have come to the public domain, where people are washing dirty linen in public. The same is true with the case of Machakos County which involved my good friend, Governor Mutua and my other good friend, Sen. Muthama. If we had something of this nature, where people could sit in Machakos, we would not invite the country to 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"
}