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"content": "level where the Senator can serve the people. It is a contradiction of sorts to be told that at the grassroots, they do not see us, we are not represented, we do not sit with the voters or representatives that are perpetuating the ideas and the policies of the Senator. On the other hand, we are told that they will not facilitate us. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that the institution of the Senate, going forward, must be facilitated to serve the people because the contradiction is that there is an MCA who is being facilitated, lives within the county, has the opportunity to go to his ward and the resources to do oversight in his ward. The Members of the National Assembly are also allocated Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) money with patronage over all the committees formed in the county, has a car which is bought by the CDF kitty, has an opportunity to put together those resources and visit schools, hospitals and deliver resources. The governor also has a village administrator, ward administrator, sub-county administrator, chief of staff, political advisor, economic advisor and all kinds of advisors. Then the President has chiefs, county and sub-county commissioners, Permanent Secretaries (PS) and Cabinet Secretary (CS) serving the nation. The only office that is not enabled to meet and listen to the people and bring the views of the people in the grassroots to the table is this office. When the Senate asked for facilitation of that office, what we were told is hypocrisy, contradiction and insulting. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is insulting to this institution to be told: “We will not give you resources, but will ensure that you are disabled from doing your job because the rest of us have the resources.” We have gone to meetings where people laugh at us and tell us that they do not see us. They ask where our committee or Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) is. We are not asking for the CDF. We are saying that the Office of the Senator all over the world, giving the example of a Senator in the United States of America (USA)--- A Senator in the USA earns $174,000 but every year; he or she is allocated $3 million to travel from Washington DC to go to his or her state, whether in Alaska or California; every time and as much as the people want him to go there and have caucuses, town hall meetings and consultations when they are doing Bills, to listen to their voters and then represent them in Washington DC. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have not asked for $3 million because we are not the USA. We asked for mere peanuts of Kshs13 million for Elgeyo-Marakwet County for a whole year, which if you divide that amount, it is about Kshs1 million per month for me to go and have consultations with my people, then they say that they cannot enable this institution to work. That is not right. The right thing is to be honest to this nation; that we want this House to be strong and not against the National Assembly or the Executive, but because we need a strong institution. I strongly believe that if you want your candle to be lit, you do not have to put off your neighbor’s. It is possible for the candle of the National Assembly to be lit beside that of the Senate. It is possible for the Members of the National Assembly to shine as well as the Senators. We must get out of this mentality that says that: “This office should 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."
}