Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 437940,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/437940/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "against everybody else or my profession against other professions but a composite resolution made on the facts and the law and that is why I am comfortable that this Committee will do a good job. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what about our responsibility in this House which we are discharging this afternoon? Some people have been writing a lot of articles in the newspapers intimidating us. They have been telling us that we cannot be dismissing Governors every other day and that we are undermining devolution. They have been reminding us that it is our duty to protect devolution as if this is not protecting devolution. In fact, what we are doing now is protecting devolution, the counties and the county government against itself because we do not want them to be destroyed because of the misbehavior of one officer or one institution against the other. So it is our responsibility and obligation to do what we are doing. As at now, we are deciding to take it to a committee but we could as well sit as the entire Senate and become a tribunal and take evidence and ask questions. But we have decided that a Committee acts much more efficiently and can spend more hours and deal with more facts better and advise us accordingly. So, we are doing our job. We are exhibiting our fidelity to the Constitution. If there is any reason I came to this Senate – when I was campaigning many people asked me why I wanted to go to the Senate. It is because I came here to protect the Constitution. I told them that wherever I went, and they wondered what it is like to protect the Constitution. This is what I am doing. I did not see the name of the Governor here but I read from the newspapers that he is a professor and he understands that we are just doing our job and he is doing his and the County Assembly is doing theirs. The only institution that I think is interfering with every other institution which I will bring a Motion here so that we debate it is the courts. After the County Assembly of Embu did its job and the Senate did its job and the Speaker gazetted what we had done, then some villagers went to court and said that they also wanted to be heard and yet they are already been represented in all these institutions. Every institution must be left to do its job. If the courts were to find that there was something unconstitutional about what we did, anybody could have appealed. But, really, to claim to want to listen to the villagers, what if another group of 45 villagers and another 70 villagers come forward? We will be hearing matters on a daily basis from different groups of villagers from every part of this country and yet they are just busybodies. So, the courts must make us feel that they are doing their job, but they should also leave everybody else to do their job. That is how this country will move forward. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have seen from the Press that most of the charges are about procurement. I can tell you, when you talk of procurement, you are talking about corruption. They are almost the same words. When you use the word “procurement”, the Kenyan who listens to you sees “corruption”. This is because most of the corruption in this country has arisen from procurement. That is why I want to warn the governors to be very particular with procurement issues. They should leave this to the professionals to do it well. But they should also supervise to make sure that the rules are followed because when the professionals mess, the governors might end up here for no reason. I heard the other governor say: “It was not me, it was my officers and the procurement department.” Eventually, it ends up with an individual. I hope that we will train the governors before 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."
}