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{
    "id": 549411,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/549411/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "This Bill comes at a time when all of us are equally tired that despite doing our best, if we cannot be facilitated as Members have said, then we are losing relevance as Senators of this country. We require a commission, whether it will be chaired by the Deputy Speaker or the Clerk. That is not the issue. The first thing that we need to do is to use all our minds and experiences to ensure that we have a commission that will take care of our interests as Senators. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, unless we become independent as Senators, I have said it and I will repeat, we will continue to lose relevance in the eyes of the public. We have attended big functions and at times we get very embarrassed. You may have a function in one constituency and there is another big function that may be attended by an executive form the national Government in another constituency. You will find that you cannot even reach there. If you do, people will be recognised. A governor will be told: “Thank you, governor for doing this and that.” A Member of the National Assembly will be congratulated. A Senator just sits in the middle with nobody talking to them. Even if you are given a chance to speak, you have nothing to say. People want to feel a Senator the way they feel the governor or a Member of the National Assembly, but that is not happening. We, as the Senate, accepted this situation. The only thing we are asking is that we be facilitated to access our people; the people who elected us and the projects funded by the counties within those sub-counties. We should not be misunderstood and people should not believe that, as the Senate, we are asking for a salary increment. That is not our business and there is no day we will ask the PSC to increase our salaries. We are contented because we believe that this country is still developing and we have various challenges as far as raising finances is concerned. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Constitution is very clear regarding our mandate as the Senate. On issues of oversight, today when you ask a Senator whether he or she has done some oversight in his or her county, a big number of them, almost three quarters, will say they have done nothing. This is because they are not facilitated. Even if they have access to one constituency, they are not able to do oversight function. A number of Senators here have more than 10 constituencies. Nobody will facilitate you to reach those projects financed by the county government. This House has passed different Bills among them is the Division of Revenue Bill 2013/2014. This year, another Bill will be tabled here. Our main business is to increase funds to the counties to the tune of billions of shillings. At the same time, a Senator is not facilitated to oversight over the projects which that money will fund. How do you expect a governor to do the right thing without the Senator being around to have a follow up on the projects, and question how much has been spent on certain projects? It is very unfortunate. The more we increase the money to the counties, the more it is will be disastrous in future unless the Senate is given powers of oversight by being facilitated to have access to every project in the county. I am sure we still have a long way to go. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there have been forces that are uniting to ensure that this House becomes irrelevant in the eyes of the public so that, at one time, people will ask what the need of the Senate was. There are very many things that we could do well as the Senate if we had our own independent commission which can handle our issues. 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."
}