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"content": "one-party State. If you remember, even the Judiciary previously has been a source of problems in the sense that the Executive, at a particular time became more “executive” than the Executive. There is no better testimony of that fact than the current Chief Justice, who was not only charged before a court of law, but later on detained. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you are also aware that if the Armed Forces themselves are left alone, they can also be part of the problem, and those who were here in 1982 know exactly what happened. So, this new Constitution gives us a new way of handling matters in this country, in that the public must be involved at all times. The Constitution is there for the people and not the Government. In fact, if you read the preamble to this Constitution, it says that the people have given themselves this Constitution. So, I will plead, in recognition of the remarks that were made by the President of the Senate of Rwanda, that we have gone beyond the thinking that was prevalent in yesteryears; that once you elected a Government, then it was left alone to govern and the opposition had to wait until elections time. In history, without Martin Luther King going out and leading a match into Washington, there would never have been a successful civil rights movement. Equally here, without the involvement of civil society, the IPPG process would not have taken place. To that extent I urge this Parliament and the Senate that unless we play the constitutional role that is required of Parliament, even the doctrine of separation of powers would not work in this country because you have heard of what is now being called the tyranny of numbers. That kind of thinking undermines the authority of Parliament which is supposed to check the executive, to be conscientious of the issues of the day so that we do not have a rogue executive and without checks and balances, we can also have a rogue Parliament. Therefore, it is upon us to play a very important role as a Parliament to make sure that the gains of this Constitution are not lost. If we are not careful, they can easily be lost like we experienced the period between 1980 and 1984 when even the electoral process was undermined by having institutions which were not carrying out their duty in accordance with the law and the Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore in this new dispensation, we should be open to each other. There is no reason why church leaders can meet with the Head of State, discuss the issue of the day, governments can call on all manner of people from a cross section of Kenyans to talk about the issue of the day. As political parties, we feel very shy to have the leadership of the political parties to sit together and reason together so that this country becomes a better place to live. In that regard, we should be guided by speaking the truth or speaking our mind because if we do not do so under the banner of commitment to sectarian interests, then the gains of this new Constitution will hardly be met. So far, I have to point out again and again that indeed people forget that the Government, left unchecked, can be an instrument of disorder. We have had governments like in Zaire which were basically a felony state or criminalized state that unleashed terror on its own citizens. Therefore, the gains that we have made requires of us to be vigilant all the time and ensure that we are each other’s protector in all circumstances. 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."
}