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{
    "id": 404258,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/404258/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 102,
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    "content": "want to confirm that I personally communicated with the Attorney-General not only once but severally in the role he must play in advising all of us. In the words of Sen. Kiraitu and Sen. Murkomen, each one of us has a responsibility to play our role as per the Constitution. Unless we stand up, we will be going back to what we have been running away from. It is important for that argument to be made especially when the position of the Attorney-General was contrary to the advisory opinion. So, he needs to be advised and we need to play the chair-leading role of advising everybody. I want to assure you, Senators, that we have not been lamenting as a House. We have not. We have just been put in an awkward position where we have decided that we will not be the aggressors. We will defend our positions robustly and with determination. No matter how many times the aggressors arrive, our defence shall remain tight. We went to court, as they say, to seek equity. As they also say, if you go to court seeking equity, you should have clean hands. So, we also went with clean hands. We were very prepared for whatever outcome because we believe in our institutions. We would have taken it in our grace and other options would have been available if the Senators and the country thought so. I just want to conclude by one paragraph in the ruling which is part of the summary I have given to you and which is also in the communication we made to the other Chamber. I like the words used by Sen. Murkomen; “our other Chamber” because we have one Parliament. We belong to the same institution although we are just two Houses. So, this could be issues of a polygamous marriage where they are yet to come to terms, and I hope nobody will use that against me. It says: “On the matter of whether a Bill concerns counties, the Supreme Court cited its decision in an earlier matter before the court; read, the matter of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission. There is in reality a close connectivity between the functioning of the national Government and county Government. We considered that the expression “any matters touching on county Government should be so interpreted as to incorporate any national level process, bearing a significant impact on the conduct of county government”. It goes on to say: This is a very broad definition which creates room for the Senate to participate in the passing of Bills in the exclusive functional areas of the national Government for as long as it can be shown that such Bills have provisions affecting the functional areas of the county governments. That was our reading of the law and that is what we got. For the suggestions by Sen. Keter and Sen. Murungi that we should just pick the Bills from the street so to speak or from the Government Printer, yes, that option is available to us but just imagine the anarchy it will create. That we generate Bills, we prosecute them and then we take them to the President. The National Assembly does the same and takes them to the same source. Which one will be signed by the President? As an institution empowered to make laws and with procedures on how to go about it, our procedures are such that either House can generate the Bill and then it goes to the other House. That is just the neater way of doing business because at the end of the day, there is only one law enacted by Parliament of the Republic of Kenya and not by one Chamber. Thank you. 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"
}