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{
    "id": 421561,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/421561/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 167,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Through this civic education, we are going to remind ourselves that we have created far too many commissions. Today we have ten commissions under the Constitution. Many of them are sitting on a continuous basis, unnecessarily. For example, the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission and many others can sit on “a need to” basis. Through that national conversation, we will be able to say it is completely unreasonable for a distinguished Senator, an hon. Member of Parliament to sit for eight hours and he earns Kshs5,000 as sitting allowance and a member of a commission makes a technical appearance in a boardroom and is paid Kshs80,000. These are the things we must address and not an easy way out the way – with all due respect – His Excellency the President thinks. The President must realize that the issue of the wage bill is multi-factorial and complex. It is not as simple as saying, I cut my salary. We do not want to be taken back to the days when I was a young doctor, newly qualified from the University of Nairobi and used to earn Kshs4,700. At the end of the month, you would go and find that the Government of former President Daniel Moi has taken away Kshs300 from your salary. You wonder where the money has gone and they tell you that is the money for Nyayo Wards and stuff like that and so on. This kind of punitive approach only exposes the executive to the extent that Kenyans realize the Executive is not alive to the provisions of Article 41 of the Constitution which provides that every citizen of Kenya is entitled to proper remuneration. If you are the head of Government and you are unable to fix the economy, you should not visit misery on Kenyans to the extent of breaching the Constitution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, through this civic education, members of the County Executive Committee and the Governor and his Deputy will be brought to the reality of the provisions of Article 209 of the Constitution of Kenya. This Article in Sub-sections (3) (4) and (5) clearly speaks to the issue of taxation. All over the country, members of the public are hitting the streets, including in Kakamega, where we have been having running battles for three days. All that the people are saying is that they are being taxed unconstitutionally, where they cannot afford and duplicating some of the taxes that they are already paying to the national Government. How would a committee of the executive of the County Government fail to read Article 3 which only limits taxation to property rates and entertainment? Before they levy any other tax, they are supposed to seek concurrence of the Senate and the national Assembly. Our leaders at the county government have moved on, they have become big men and big women and they are not bothered about the suffering of our people. I want to request my colleague Senators here not to be intimidated. We must build that pressure real hard on all of them until they realize that the only organ under the Constitution as far as the county governments are concerned, mandated to do oversight is none other than this Senate. Do not bother and listen and answer them in the press. What you need to do is just to exercise resilience. Now that you have sent Wambora home, if you sent one or two more home, for example, the Chairman of the Council of Governors who keeps on making a lot of provocative statements, you will see order in the country and the country will move on. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, somebody was trying to intimidate me earlier on in my speech that I was seen leading demonstrations in Kakamega County. I am telling 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."
}