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{
    "id": 436289,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/436289/?format=api",
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    "content": "The procedure is also there. The grounds for removal are specified and have to be matched by the Committee against the grounds that are set out in the Constitution. Allow me, before I conclude, to comment very briefly on an issue which I am sure has been exhausted. I think there is need for the people of Kenya to understand why the Senate is addressing this issue. I say so because we do not want it to go on record that the Senate of the Republic of Kenya has succumbed to any imagination, insinuation or pretence that anybody outside the authority of Parliament can cause this House to sit here and discuss anything. I am saying this because the public may want to know why we are here. We are here and this Committee is being formed because although we had an initial processes; a court of law found that the process was flawed at the starting point and that was at the County Assembly. Owing to that reason, therefore, considering that a process like this is not complete until the Senate acts after a proper process has taken place at the County Assembly, it is important to painstakingly look at this issue as a new process in honour of the court that found that something had gone wrong at the County Assembly level. Let me say this for clarity. It is not possible for a court of law to injunct Parliament. Parliament cannot also tell a court of law that it cannot decide on a case in a certain way. This is called the independence of the three arms of the Government. Among the three arms of Government, there is only one arm of Government that draws its legitimacy directly from the people. This House and the National Assembly, collectively, is the people of Kenya gathered in the Chamber. No court, no judge, no magistrate sitting in a room can tell the people of Kenya to stop talking, deliberating or legislating until they have decided on a matter. Suppose a decision that has been filed by somebody took three years? That means that you would have injuncted people from transacting their business for three years and this is not possible. For the record, people have asked whether there is a hierarchy among the three arms of Government. I believe there is a hierarchy. There is a hierarchy as follows. Number one, we know that part of the Executive are elected people but not the entire Executive arm. The civil service, the police and other people who support the Executive are not elected. In our case, in fact, under the new Constitution, only the President and the Deputy President within the Executive are elected leaders. The rest, including Cabinet Secretaries have no mandate directly from the people of this country. So, the Executive is not the superior arm of Government in terms of democracy. The Judiciary is equally an important arm of the Government but it is not superior to this House because no judge is elected by anybody. They do exercise important constitutional functions. Those functions have not been entrusted with them directly by the people of Kenya."
}