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"content": "time to now go back to the county, not only to consult, but also to do anything else incidental to us in our role as Senators. Unfortunately, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is something we must candidly say in the Senate; we have only four clear roles as per the Constitution. But our electorates down there do not necessarily appreciate the role of a modern politician strictly as per the roles as stipulated in the Constitution. We appreciate the role of a politician in a traditional sense, as they understand politics. They want you to be there for every other harambee or burial. As much as it is part of our African culture, I think we should also use this time to clearly demonstrate what our roles should be. I think this is now quite a blessing that one of the Members of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) represents these Senators here. This is the kind of time that also Senators should have been facilitated to discharge their mandates outside Parliament. This is because I think if the PSC had been able to facilitate Senators, I think this particular point in time, we should have been able to organize several barazas, meetings and stakeholders consultations to allow us, as Senate, to ventilate on some of the proposals and give our people the desires or the demands of the Constitution for people’s participation. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to commend the leadership of the House. I think there is nothing as important as having a calendar, which projects and gives you certain elements of reliability and certainty, as to where you will be on a certain date. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as Sen. Obure did indicate, the times allocated for the recess are reasonable. I think that it is important for us to tour the breadths and widths of our counties. The other day, a Member of the National Assembly indicated to me that we have a longer recess than the one of the National Assembly. I told him that it is merely because we have a constituency that is bigger than any Member of the National Assembly. If he takes two days to tour his constituency, I will, probably, take 12 days, because that is the reality of the situation that we have. So, I think that this only responds to the demands of the Senator, and you know the politics of our counties. If you are seen in one village, there is a snowball effect that Sen. Musila, Sen. Obure, Sen. Okong’o or Sen. Chiaba was seen in a certain village. So, if you do not make it to that other village by the next week, then they will say that you prefer one village or area over another. So, I think that this is very adequate time that a Senator can reasonably facilitate himself or herself to ensure that he tours the county. But as I put it strongly to Sen. Musila and other Members of the PSC, Senators need to be facilitated during those periods to discharge their mandate, particularly with respect to people’s participation. It is very constitutional. In fact, very soon, our laws, Motions or processes in here will be rendered unconstitutional, because they fail to meet the threshold of people’s participation. Only the PSC can facilitate the people’s participation. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, by peoples’ participation, I do not mean a Committee publishing a notice that we are debating a certain Bill and so, people should bring their views to County Hall. I do not think that, that is peoples’ participation. Peoples’ 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."
}