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{
    "id": 404480,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/404480/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 38,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "In the very recent history when we were doing the Division of Revenue Bill, the National Assembly merely sang to the tune of the Executive. So, it is really wrong for anyone to suggest that if this institution is scrapped, the National Assembly will take care of devolution. With the challenges we have in devolution that I have mentioned, the Senate is the single most important institution that can support that. Mr. Speaker, Sir, you will see distinguished Members of Parliament arguing on national television that one of the main reasons that they want the Senate scrapped is because of the public wage bill. There is no ridiculous argument than that one. It is not only unfortunate but the most ridiculous. The total amount of money used as salaries is about Kshs460 billion or close to Kshs500 billion. The total wage bill for this House, that is the salaries for the Senators, their allowances and everything else, you add will come to about Kshs1 billion. Now if everybody who is even in a kindergarten school takes a calculator and calculates Kshs1 billion as a fraction of Kshs500 billion, it comes to 0.002 per cent of the total wage bill. If anybody tells you that they want to save this country money by saving 0.002 per cent of the wage bill, then it means that, unfortunately, some of the leaders in this country do not qualify for some of the leadership positions that they hold. Some of the leaders in this country are not fit to lead because they are misleading the people of this country. If you want to save this country money, you only need to take a pen and pencil and go through the Printed Estimates for the national Government and see how much wastage and inefficiencies there are. In fact, none other than the national Treasury three years ago declared that this country losses Kshs300 billion annually due to wastage, inefficiencies and pilferage in the public service. We are losing Kshs300 billion which is pilfered through procurement, wastage, duplication and other inefficiencies and yet there is somebody who has the responsibility to ensure that this wastage does not happen as they have that mandate in the Constitution. That same leader is the one mandated in the Constitution to ensure that there is no inefficiency and pilferage through procurement. They are the ones responsible for preparing legislations to ensure that the national Government works efficiently and in the most cost efficient way to ensure that there is no wastage, yet they do not see the log in their eye and they want to suggest and tell the Kenyans that they can save a lot of money if this or the other House is scrapped. The institution called the Parliament has been set up for the single purpose of ensuring accountability; it is oversight in addition to legislation. Today, how much money is being saved simply by these institutions carrying out their mandates either in the committees or on the Floor of this House to monitor? The amount of money that this country is saving through public accountability demands by these institutions is astounding. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are some of us who, when they hear the wage bill, they do not know how much it is and I have just mentioned it. What is the wage? We are being told in a study that was released today that in a country of 40 million people, I will tell you the fallacy around all these arguments on the public wage bill. We are being told today in this report which has been published, that out of the 40 million Kenyans, about 20.2 million people are the working age. In other words, they are the people who qualify to work. They are the people who deserve to do a job. They are of working age. Out of the 20.2 million, this country has only 4.8 million people working. There are 15.5 million 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"
}