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{
    "id": 499874,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/499874/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 135,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Governments in terms of Article 110(1)(a) of the Constitution and of the Advisory Opinion of the Supreme Court; CONCERNED that owing to the unlimited legislative mandate of the National Assembly, the National Assembly may have no incentive to observe or to reasonably engage in the concurrence process under Article 110(3) of the Constitution thus resulting in a legislative process that disregards the Senate and that is virtually unicameral; FURTHER CONCERNED that the continued exclusion of the Senate in the legislative process adversely impacts the Senate’s ability to represent the Counties and to protect the interests of the Counties and their Governments in the legislative process in the national Parliament and that this could eventually result in the weakening and eventual dismantling of the devolved system of government which is the cornerstone of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010; OBSERVING that this situation has continued to persist since the constitution of the two Houses of Parliament after the last General Elections; DESIROUS that there should be a conclusive determination on the manner in which legislation should be processed between the two Houses and on the concurrence process under Article 110(3) of the Constitution, including the procedure to be observed where there is no concurrence between the two Speakers; NOTING ALSO that the intervention of the Courts has on several occasions been sought by various parties on matters that are actively before the Senate and which are within the constitutional jurisdiction of the Senate; OBSERVING that where such intervention has been sought, the Courts have proceeded to issue orders whose effect has been to stop the Senate from executing its constitutional mandate; AND NOTING that similar court orders have also been sought and issued against a number of County Assemblies resulting, in some cases, in a situation where the affected County Assemblies have been unable to hold their sittings thus affecting the execution of the functions and powers of the entire County Governments; CONCERNED that the issuance of such Court orders has the potential of crippling the legislative arm of Government both at the national and county levels; further undermining the implementation of the devolved system of Government; NOW THEREFORE THE SENATE RESOLVES to immediately seek an Advisory Opinion from the Supreme Court on, among others, the following matters- (1) the constitutional status of Acts of Parliament which have been passed by one House of Parliament and assented to in contravention of Article 110(3) of the Constitution; (2) the appropriate way forward when there is a lack of concurrence by the two Speakers of Parliament on any particular Bill; (3) the appropriate jurisdiction of the courts over the Senate and the national Parliament in general as well as over the county legislative assemblies when these are exercising the constitutional mandates; 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."
}