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{
    "id": 548314,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/548314/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, having read this Amendment Bill very carefully, I confess that I cannot help admiring the ingenuity and industry of the Senator for Meru County, Sen. Murungi. This is because, had he not put serious thought into this, the only cure to what he has attempted to achieve through this piece of legislation would have been to amend the Constitution. Now that he has managed not to amend the Constitution and achieved what that amendment would have required, kudos to him. Madam Temporary Speaker, I was thinking about this Bill last night. I was wondering; when political expediency led to the killing of the Senate in 1966 - give the devil his due - I do not think killing of the Senate in the present day Kenya would be because of political expediency. To me, it will be because of this Senate itself. If we refuse to assert ourselves, then we are dismissed by Members of the National Assembly, Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), members of the public, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), the National Treasury and whoever it may be that will dismiss us, we will have ourselves to blame. We must assert ourselves. Any cent spent in this country in enabling us to assert ourselves - so that devolution works - is a cent well spent. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am lucky that I saw the red flag very early on in the day. I remember Governor Oparanya offered me an office at the Kakamega County Headquarters and I refused. When they renovated the old building in the former Kakamega County Council to be the County Assembly of Kakamega, I was also offered an office, and I refused. This is because it occurred to me that for me to effectively ask questions of oversight from both the Governor and the Clerk of the Assembly, I would have to detach myself from them. I did it and I think that we have worked fairly well to that extent. Madam Temporary Speaker, speaking about the Parliamentary Service Commission as presently constituted, it is completely ill-equipped to serve the Senators in defending county governments. As constituted, we have sent there three very senior Members of this House, but they have nothing to write home about. This is because 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."
}