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"content": "comparing ourselves with America. That is why people like Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o, Sen. Musila and myself had to become Senators. We were comparing which House would be better. We thought that the Senate was the best. It is true that it is the best going by the brains contained in this House. It is the best because I know what kind of brains I am using. Mine, certainly, can be borrowed elsewhere. It is true that when I was in Mauritius last weekend I was representing the whole of Africa in the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) forum. This was a continental conference. When I got to Saint Louis, Mauritius, I was received by a Government official. I was driven in a Government car full of bodyguards. I met the Minister for Education, a lady who treated me like a Minister. That is what it costs to be a Senator. It is a pity that when you are walking around here, nobody cares whether you are a Senator or a Member of National Assembly. We are all referred to as parliamentarians. That means that a Senator is by name and insinuation a person who is above others in terms of law-making and legislature. Therefore, when we are here, people should not demean us. They should not think that we are here because age has made it possible for us to be here. One time, age will get us out once we exit and others will come in. The important thing is to perpetuate the feeling and principles of this House so that others find it necessary to come and be Senators just because we have had a very successful Senate that comprises of the Senators here. Since this is our second Senate since Independence; the first one was in 1963 and now we have the second one, we should maintain or perpetuate what is good for the Senate so that others can emulate and see to that it is good for them to be Senators. However, if we do not have the privileges enjoyed by Senators elsewhere and we do not have self esteem, we will have problems. In a nutshell, a Senator is that person who has been elected just like any other person and more so by more votes than a Member of National Assembly. In my case, because I do not know about others, I was elected by over 250,000 people. In every polling station, I was number one. For anybody to say that I am not as popular as a Member of National Assembly who was elected by 20,000 votes, that is ridiculous. We should now be going for something which is possible, feasible and true depending on what we were elected for. When you are elected by a big majority, the majority look forward towards what you will do for them because they know that they elected people who are intelligent and people who can spread their wings to 10 or 15 constituencies in a county. That is why others who were elected in the constituencies were elected to lead constituencies. Those who were elected to lead counties are, according to the eyes of the majority, senior people who can afford to travel to such areas and bring calm to a county which is, probably, troublesome. The expectations of majority of the people in a community are that the Senator is the most senior politician in the county. That is what they think. However, when it comes to the Senate and the National Assembly privileges, you will find that is not how a Senator is treated. The Senator should be treated the way people expect. The expectations are that the Senator is the senior person in the county. When we get to those positions, therefore, we should be seen that way. We should be the people driving bigger cars than the governors. We should be the ones walking more straight than the Members of 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."
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