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"content": "constituencies. They are representing thousands of voices in making laws which also govern those millions of people. Therefore, the creation of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) was a relief to that because through that, we were able to buy cars, houses and to reason as Members of Parliament regardless of whether one was in the Government or the Opposition. When it came to parliamentary issues, reasoning was the same. That really made even the debate in Parliament objective and people recognized that being a Member of Parliament is a career. I remember very well when some of us were young and decided to run for a parliamentary seat, I was told: “That is reserved for retired people, those people who are around 60 or 70 years of age.” I remember I asked my father: “Why do you think so?” He said, “because of history.” You need to have worked very well, your children have gone through school because this one, if you go in you just become poor and your children will not go to school.” Then I said: “But this is like employment, I have been employed by 60,000 people of Belgut Constituency to work for them and in return, I have to be paid. We should treat politics as any other job.” I remember very well after that, we have seen a lot of evolution and generational change; people going in not for money but to work like people even applying for jobs in Safaricom or any other company; they will take the best for the productivity of that organization. Therefore, we have seen also the best in terms of productivity. When the new Constitution came into place, it created this House, the Senate and the National Assembly. The Parliamentary Service Commission is one of the Commissions which are entrenched in the Constitution. There is a way of changing that. These amendments are meant to review the Parliamentary Service Act which drives the Parliamentary Service Commission. Therefore, the notion that the Senate is trying to change the Parliamentary Service Commission should be put to rest because we are not. The Parliamentary Service Commission is still there. If you look at the Memorandum of Objects and Reason, you will see that the principal objective of the Bill is to amend the Parliamentary Service Act to provide for the establishment of committees; the Senate Service Committee and the National Assembly Service Committee. It says that these Committees will enhance the efficiency of the Commission in terms of the performance. So, nobody is challenging the Parliamentary Service Commission. However, to make it more effective, considering that we have two Houses, the Senate and the National Assembly, let us create a Committee that deals with Senate issues and another one that deals with the National Assembly issues. All these committees will work to improve the work of the Parliamentary Service Commission. In the functions of this Committee, it is well articulated that they will, at the end, take their reports to the Parliamentary Service Commission. Madam Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill is coming at the right time because we, as Senators, have been complaining. We appropriate a lot of money to our counties. The Governor for Kericho is given Kshs4 billion to run, has a very big office, he has advisers, personal secretary, a chain of staff, a fleet of vehicles and wherever he goes, he talks as a Governor representing the wishes of the people of Kericho. The Governor has resources and, therefore, you cannot run an institution or a constituency without resources. That is why we created offices here so that we make Parliament more efficient. That is why the 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."
}