Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 549430,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/549430/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 228,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Somebody who oversees is an overseer. In Kiswahili language, I think an overseer is referred to as mnyapara. As an overseer, you need to have certain standards. Our facilities in the county, as provided by the PSC, are wanting. You cannot compare our offices with any other office in the county. It is the high time that we had a Senate to exist permanently. We are not on transit. The PSC should have by now started a programme of constructing permanent offices for Senators in every county. Renting is not a solution because in the long run it will be very expensive. We do not even have enough funds to rent decent offices. Since our role is to oversight, we are supposed to move and talk to people. In the counties even the county executives have vehicles, but the Senator does not have a vehicle in the county office. It is really demeaning that the office of the Senator is the most underfunded. Regarding personnel, the Senator is expected to be legislating in the Senate and go and perform other functions in the county over the weekend. The Senators are forced to perform those functions themselves because they do not have experts, including auditors, accountants and lawyers. In developed democracies, like the United States of America (USA), a Senator is facilitated. They have advisers and a retinue of officers to enable them work. Even in the absence of a Senator, that office will run and serve the people. Right now, we do not have people to deputize us when we are required in the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, public participation is an issue that has been emphasized in the Constitution. It is a requirement and there is no exception for the Senators. As I speak here, it is requirement that we must have consulted and involved our constituents in the counties, as individual Senators and also as a Senate. We are not able to do this because we are not facilitated. You cannot call for meetings because, first of all, you do not even have those funds to hire a hall. The few of us who have had the opportunity to call meetings of leaders and so forth, have had to dig into even the family finances to perform official functions. We have had to use personal vehicles to reach every corner of the county. I believe that this Committee will, therefore, address these needs very urgently to be able to facilitate the Senators. Madam Temporary Speaker, the county assemblies look up to us as their seniors and advisers. This is because we are all in the legislature. However, we are not able to engage them adequately because we do not have facilitation. You can only attend their meetings upon invitation. I have had opportunity to occasionally address the county assembly in my county, but would have wanted to have more fora, perhaps, even outside the assembly, so that we can discuss so many other issues. To many Senators it is not possible to have constant engagements with the county assemblies without finances. Madam Temporary Speaker, we were recently in Mombasa with the speakers of the county assemblies. They indicated that they want to be supported and have liaison with us. We need a Senate that has a unit or department that deals and liaises specifically with the counties in terms of oversight and supporting them to grow, because it is a constitutional requirement that the national Government must support the counties to take off. But unfortunately, the Senate has not been done that adequately because of lack of finances. 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."
}