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"content": "and John Sambu as Members of Parliament who fought gallantly to improve the welfare of Members. Hon. Oloo Aringo, of course, is the father of reforms of Parliament. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, many of the Members today, in both Houses, enjoy the facilities, perks and allowances, courtesy of, among others, Dr. Ali. For the record, Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o and my brother, Sen. Leshore, and I, came to Parliament at the same time. Sen. Orengo came much earlier. In 1993, the take-home salary of a Member of Parliament was Kshs36,000 and mileage allowance was Kshs9,000 a month. It progressed and by the time we finished the Seventh Parliament, it had reached about Kshs74,000 and mileage allowance was about Kshs25,000 a month. These Members have fought to bring it to where we are. Sen. Leshore may recall and confirm that the parking at the Main Parliament was like an open air garage. As Members drove in, in the morning, the bonnets of their cars would be opened until evening; with Jua Kali mechanics fumbling with their cars to make sure that by the weekend they would be able to go home. There was no car allowance, but today, things are different, courtesy of, among others, Dr. Ali. I personally know him and support his nomination. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have no doubt that among the many challenges that he will be able to confront is to help the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) understand the distinction between the National Assembly and the Senate. You know very well that Senators, particularly the elected Senators, represent vast areas. The distinguished Senator for Kakamega has a constituency that has 12 National Assembly constituencies, yet the allowances that he gets for his constituency work are equal to each one of those Members. The office that he runs is funded at the same level as each of the Members, and it applies to all of us. I hope that these new members will be able to inject new thinking. The Senate is not asking to be treated differently. All that we are saying is that they must respect and appreciate the geographical area and population that we represent. You cannot possibly run through five, six or ten constituencies at the same cost as running through one constituency, and yet, everytime that the matter has gone to the National Assembly-dominated PSC, they have just parried it off. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have made presentations that by virtue of their constituencies, the PSC should even consider giving each Senator a four-wheel drive vehicle in the constituency to be able to do their work. Nobody thinks about it. I have even made a presentation to some of the commissioners and told them that if, for example, a Senator represents 17 constituencies, like the distinguished Senator for Nairobi, one would expect in his office to have at the very least, a representative or employee from each of those single constituencies for connection and work to be done. But what do you hear, particularly from the Speaker of the Lower House? “Senators are not special.” That kind of talk does not enhance democracy, efficiency of work or help anybody. So, I hope that as we approve the list, we are going to see a difference. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Mrs. Lornah Mumelo is also a very distinguished lady. She happens to come from my county and I know her. She is a very successful academician. She has done a lot of positive public work and brings to the PSC a wealth of experience. She comes as person who has a very huge capacity for listening and appreciating issues, and that is what we want. In fact, like Sen. Kiraitu has indicated, he is drafting a Bill to create a Service Commission for the Senate, so that we can work in a 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."
}