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    "id": 423866,
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    "content": "depend very much on the Chairpersons of these Committees because in effect, they are like Ministers of Government. They are expected to be working around the clock to make sure that the House is satisfied with their normal Business and also that the House is quite clear that the Committee is doing Business as they were supposed to do. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am very grateful to you because even in your introduction to these amendments, it was very clear that you gave an opportunity to almost everybody, even to the press, to let people know that there will be a Committee to amend our Standing Orders for those who may be having some interest to participate in proposing the same. Of course, as you understand, it is not easy for us to have forwarded our wishes, but now that we are getting into the real Business of the House and we are getting to the real meat of our purpose of being here, next time we will feed the Committee which will be there with a lot of other information to enable this House to do even much better. The important thing again, if I may repeat, is that next month, if Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and myself decide that we need to do a new amendment to these Standing Orders, I find that there will be no limitation; that we are allowed by the rules of the game to bring forward any amendments. That means that the men and women of this House will not be bogged down by wanting to do something that they cannot do because there is freedom to do that kind of thing because, finally, the Standing Orders belong to us and to this House. Therefore, we can do whatever we want to do with them, provided it is going to give us some more effect in our deliberations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also support the Committee – we were personally involved in selecting its Members – of Sen. Orengo, Sen. Murungi, Sen. (Dr.) Zani, Sen. Elachi, Sen. Keter and Sen. Ongera. I think that these are good people and they did a very commendable job. I know it is easy to want to be nominated or appointed to a Committee, but to deliver in that Committee becomes a big problem. All of us would wish to be in a Committee. We also want to be Chairpersons of Committees but to deliver is another issue. There are some of those Members of the Committees or Chairpersons of the Committees who know for sure that they do not do any work, but still they want to stick there. It is most unfortunate because we do not have guts, for example, if we know that Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale – and I am referring to Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale because he is my friend – if he is the Chairperson of a Committee and we know for sure he is not providing leadership, you will find that there is nobody who has the guts to say that Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale needs to be replaced. We must now be open and clear in our own minds that if someone is not productive; if three or four Members of the Senate decide and feel very strongly that there is a need to change membership of the Committee on Finance, I think that time should come and we should become very clear in our minds that this needs to be done. Otherwise, we shall be playing a game that is going to affect us outside there by not wanting to remove Sen. G.G. Kariuki from a Committee because he is a ‘good’ man or he is a ‘nice’ fellow’ and, therefore, let us keep him. You will be affecting your progress out there. I think this thing needs to be said and be said clearly. It is also the duty of the hon. Speaker, together with the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders to monitor the Committees and their Chairpersons. They should be having consultations almost every now and then to reveal what these Members of Committees are doing or whether they are effective or not. They should not just wait indefinitely because these Committees were selected on a friendly basis. We have 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."
}