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{
    "id": 446843,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/446843/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 204,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "The other day, I saw a governor with an Aide-de-Camp, somebody who was looking more like a scarecrow. Sometimes I wonder, what does one gain by doing things like those? This is a good point, to strike a balance in the manner we have. Seriously, as a county and even as we forge ahead - hoping that we will approve the amended version of the Bill as per the mediation team - we have to be candid with each other. We really either must look at the role of the Senate as currently constituted or ask ourselves fundamental questions. At a point in the life of a country, you must ask hard questions and sometimes, I have asked myself, what would happen in Kenya today if the Senate was not there? If we agree that we need the Senate, then really we have to relook at the role of the Senate. Some of us tend to agree that in its current form maybe the most glaring contribution that the Senate adds to the people of Kenya is to increase the wage Bill. I do not think that is the sought of role that we want to live with. We have to decide as a country as we move forward if we need this House. A lot of people think we do not, but if we really do need it then candidly we have to have a reassessment of its role. I am not in anyway trying to have a condescending view of our brothers and sisters in the other House. I am only saying the Constitution is currently framed in a way that makes it look like the country can do without the Senate. So, we either decide that we need that House and give it powers that will make it truly relevant. The truth if said there are some posts in the Senate which are clearly unconstitutional, if you read the Constitution. We have posts like the Leader of Majority Party and the Leader of Minority Party. Where do you find this in the Constitution? These are things that we have to audit, look at and talk about because refusing to talk about them is refusing to acknowledge that there is a problem with our constitutional framework. We have a problem that we have put upon ourselves. Hon. Speaker, as I move to close, I have seen a proposed amendment to Clause 91(c)---"
}