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{
    "id": 470446,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470446/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "office for less than a month. We are in a new kind of system with a new Constitution. We should, therefore, work within that Constitution. Let us forget the past. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I was elected Senator, I had an illusion which I am proving right now, that the Senate of this country will start a new kind of political life that Kenyans must admire. This Senate should not appear as if it is a branch of the National Assembly. The Members of the National Assembly are entitled to say all the things that they want to say sometimes without limitations in their language. But here, I think we have to give new direction that will prove to this country that there was need for the Senate. It is a Senate of people who have the experience and will hide and keep their disappointments like elders in the House. So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, having said that, I think we must give President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Deputy President, Mr. Ruto, time to see what they will do. This is a Speech that will be repeated annually. Next year, in comparison to this Speech we shall see what has been implemented and what has not been implemented. We will then see what to report to this nation. I can see that we are trying to talk about our roads, water, etcetera. If you look at the Constitution, the section which deals with the functions of the two governments; the national Government and the County Government and also the work of the National Assembly and the Senate, you will notice that there is no need for us sitting here appearing to complain. Instead we should stick to the Constitution and say what we want through it. Here we keep on talking as if we are addressing Governors. This House should not be used as a high table for talking to the Governors. I think we have to develop close relations with the Governors and not just to wait and listen to us defending them. There is no point. The Constitution is very clear that our job is to protect the interests of the County Governments. We are now giving an impression to our Governors that they have special powers somewhere which we cannot locate in this Constitution. I beg to submit that actually the Governors have no powers. If we want to give them power, it is this House which will provide them with powers because we are here mainly for the County Assemblies and to make sure that devolution is followed to the letter. Therefore, there is no need for us to appear as if there is something missing. It may be missing because we do understand. This Constitution has given all the powers to the Senate and the National Assembly because the whole idea of devolution was not to support a certain centre of power or to allocate powers to new people. The job that we were carrying out during the struggle for the new Constitution was to make sure that powers of the Head of State are devolved and given to other centres. But when you hear someone wondering who has more power between the Senator and the Governor, is that really an issue? We want powers to do what? Is it power to detain or sack anybody? What kind of power do we want? I think the power that is required to be given to the Governors and the Senators is the power to develop this country. We should give our people service. Any person who can afford to give Kenyans services should be honoured as a person with power. But when we pretend that we are having more powers than any other person, I think that was not the intention. The intention of devolution of power was to make sure that autocracy was forgotten in this country. We cannot shift power from one person from Nairobi to another person in Murang’a. That a person can deal with you in any way as and when he 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."
}