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{
    "id": 425423,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/425423/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 266,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 447,
        "legal_name": "John Krop Lonyangapuo",
        "slug": "john-lonyangapuo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also rise to support this Motion and to remind ourselves that in Article 1 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, it talks about the sovereignty of the people of Kenya. It says in Article 1(1)(2) (3):- “(1) All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and shall be exercised only in accordance with this Constitution. (2) The people may exercise their sovereign power either directly or through their democratically elected representatives (3) Sovereign power under this Constitution is delegated to the following State organs, which shall perform their functions in accordance with this Constitution–– (a) Parliament and the legislative assemblies in the county governments; (b) the national executive and the executive structures in the county governments; and (c) the Judiciary and independent tribunals. (4) The sovereign power of the people is exercised at–– (a) the national level; and (b) the county level. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to read the last one in Article 179(6) which says:- “Members of a County Executive Committee are accountable to the County Governor for the performance of their functions and exercise of their powers.” What this tells us is that the buck stops at the feet of the Governor, at night or during the day. It defeats logic when we are reading from this report that: “Seemingly the Chief Executive feigns ignorance in almost some of their functions and activities that were done.” Mr. Speaker, Sir, I come from a county where people are suffering from drought and as a result of this, there is hunger. It looks absurd that a county like Embu will follow and suffer like some of us who come from more arid areas just because the chief executive closed his eyes when decisions and matters were supposed to be taken. It, therefore, calls upon all of us in this House, that we should not bring any issue to the effect that anybody else was witch-hunting this Governor. The decision we are taking today should send out a signal that nobody is above or under the law in Kenya, be it the County Assembly as the people who have given us to exercise this sovereign power or the National Assembly. We should be able to realise that this Constitution came to guide us in the new dispensation. We can now see that the Constitution is beginning to put order and sense in the direction in which devolution should go. 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."
}