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{
    "id": 502259,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/502259/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 91,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Senators, and they would, probably, name all the Senators. For example, in this country who does not know Sen. Haji, Sen. Obure, the Deputy Speaker or even the Speaker of the Senate? When I was trying to contest for election, people asked me why I was going for a big seat instead of starting from a smaller one. They told me that this is a league for the superstars like Sen. Wetangula, Sen. Abu Chiaba, Sen. G.G. Kariuki et cetera. But I told them that I believed that I belonged to that league by right. They branded this House a House of retirees. There are no greater ideas that I have come across than the ideas I meet in this Senate. Quite a number of Members of the National Assembly fall within my age bracket. I can neither have a political discussion or a discourse of the quality and scale that I have with Members of the Senate. People say that when you look and listen to the debates in the Senate for one hour, you will have got the kind of value that would have taken you a long time to learn. Those people who say that this is a House of retirees, I want to tell them that the more than 50 per cent of the Members of the National Assembly are older than me. What retirement are they talking about? It is because they did not have the courage to stand to be elected as Senators. Those of us who had the courage are here. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are making these political arguments because it should be known to all and sundry that the Senate has not woken up from slumber; the Senate was not sleeping. It was simply being patient. We have been patient for far too long. Unfortunately, the Member of National Assembly who made that remark is a person who comes from the Wiper Democratic Party which I belong to. He is the Leader of the Minority in the National Assembly courtesy of a Parliamentary Group (PG) decision which I sat in to ensure that he is selected as the Leader of the Minority. All I ask him to do is to do his job and stop theatrics. We did not sit in that PG to make him the Leader of Minority so that he could go and make the most unfortunate statements in the National Assembly that any leader worth his salt cannot make. It was unfortunate for him to stand on the Floor of the National Assembly and doubt whether the Senate serves any useful purpose. It shows that he is a person who, not only does not understand the Constitution or is an enemy of devolution, but has no understanding of his own mandate. In fact, this mandate should have been to protect coexistence between the two Houses. I think this Motion is very timely and many Senators have spoken to it. This Motion is extremely important to us from the coastal region. Many of you might not know this history, but I have heard Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale say it before, that devolution was not born out of some lofty ideas by some constitutional lawyers seating somewhere in Nairobi. Devolution has been an idea whose principle founders are some of the greatest names that have walked the coast region. The spirit of the late Ronald Ngala is found in this document. Therefore, whoever tries to fight that spirit is fighting the spirit of the entire coast region. To abolish the Senate, is to abolish devolution. To undermine the Senate is to undermine devolution. Whoever undermines the Senate undermines all of us. Therefore, those who think that this was an idea that was manufactured somewhere in Nairobi by some good constitutional thinkers, are wrong. It was only put to form by those who know about legal drafting. 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."
}