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{
    "id": 499695,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/499695/?format=api",
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    "content": "have declared that they are running for the presidency. Even those who have not declared should be ambitious because the Constitution allows them to do so. We are here to stay; we are not going anywhere. Mr. Speaker, Sir, other than the Constitution demanding the concurrence of both Speakers - I heard some of my colleagues saying that the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader should have done this or that – the work of concurring on Bills is not the work of the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the Senate, the Speaker of the National Assembly or the Attorney-General; it is the work of the two Speakers of Parliament, jointly. Where they cannot agree, the Constitution envisages that situation and says that if for whatever reason they cannot agree and, indeed, there have been many instances of lack of concurrence, then there must be a Mediation Committee. If the Committee agrees on a version, the version must be passed in both Houses and not in one of the Houses. If the Mediation Committee does not reach an agreement or one of the Houses does not pass it, the Bill dies and is buried or given the final rites. To tell me that a Speaker of any of the Houses can decide to abrogate themselves the power to decide which Bills concern counties, which ones are Money Bills and which ones are not, is to tell me that there are people who may not have read this Constitution properly. Even on this matter of the division of functions between the national Government and county government, one of the things that I have not seen coming out in the public debate is that there are three types of functions in this Constitution. Some people just rush and read the Fourth Schedule and say that these functions are in the national Government and these ones are in the county government. That is being simplistic. You may need to look at Article 186. To paraphrase it, it looks at the possibility of three categories of functions. The first category which every Kenyan is conversant with is what we call exclusive jurisdiction, where some functions are exclusively in the national Government or exclusively in the county governments. If you want to understand that further, you have to read the three paragraphs that are in Article 186. So, what is in the Fourth Schedule is just a list of mainly the exclusive jurisdiction or functions. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a second category; concurrent functions or concurrent jurisdictions. So that, for example, health policy and the national referral hospitals which is part of the health function are in the national government, but all other hospitals; the facilities and other health matters other than the health policy and national referral hospitals, are under the county governments. Both matters concern health, but some of them are in the national Government - the policy and referral hospitals - and the rest are in the county governments. That is called concurrent jurisdiction. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is also what we call residue jurisdiction. There are some things which are not provided for in this Constitution. The Constitution says that in such circumstances where there is a function which has been left out, that function is vested in the national Government. So, it should not be enough to just say:- 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."
}