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"content": "the letters “MP” meant “Miserable Person”. If he were around and in the Senate today, he would be saying that Senators are the most miserable persons; people with big titles, but nothing else other than the name “Senators”. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is hon. Peter Oloo Aringo, then called “Castro”, who came to rescue Parliament through the constitutional amendments which established the current PSC. It is in that landmark Bill that the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Act No. 3 of 1999 transformed Kenya’s Parliament from a toothless bull-dog to a vibrant House that we see today. Therefore, time has come for us to exert ourselves the way hon. Oloo Aringo did. Time has come for us to rise up and empower the Senate the way we empowered Parliament. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the establishment of the PSC is critical to the functioning of parliamentary democracy in this country. The PSC has made tremendous progress: Improving remuneration of Members, providing offices for MPs both at Parliament and at the constituency level and facilitating parliamentary committees, not to mention the modern Chambers that the two Houses sit in today; the Senate Chamber and the National Assembly Chamber. In the new Constitution, the PSC was re-established under Article 127 of the Constitution. Article 127(6) clearly states the functions of the Commission. The functions are stated in the old language and terms in which the “Oloo Aringo Bill” was drafted. The PSC is to be responsible for providing services and facilities to ensure efficient and effective functioning of Parliament. Therefore, the PSC serves both Houses of Parliament; the National Assembly and the Senate. It is, therefore, supposed to provide services and facilities to ensure efficient and effective functioning of the Senate. However, it is not doing so. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the problem with the PSC, as constituted, is that it does not fully recognise that Kenya is no longer a unicameral Parliament. We are now in the era of bicameral legislature. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in other jurisdictions; where there is a bicameral legislature, each of the two Houses is, for practical purposes, a separate and distinct entity with separate financial arrangements, staff and administrative facilities. The provision of services for each of the Houses is left to the leadership of each House. Therefore, the provision of the services of the Senate should be left to the leadership of the Senate while the provision of services to the National Assembly should be left to the leadership of the National Assembly. This is the case in the USA. The only thing shared between the Congress and the Senate is the Library of Congress which, as you know, is across the road from the Senate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in the Philippines, the two Houses are not even located near each other; they are separated. This is the same case in Rwanda and Nigeria, where the two Houses are separate and distinct in the provision of the facilities and services. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, ideally, we should have two commissions; one for the Senate and another one for the National Assembly. Unfortunately, given our political circumstances now, it is not possible to amend the Constitution to create two separate commissions immediately. Therefore, we took the shortcut of having the services 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."
}