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    "id": 560385,
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    "content": "we as human beings not to give each other the benefit of doubt, time and again? However, I can tell you that if we move back on this Motion or amendments again, this country will be extremely unforgiving. This is not to say that I know that some of us are running other processes and that is why I want to reassure this House that this process is independent from those other processes. We will pursue those other processes because we believe in them. For us, it not something that we woke up and realized that the Senate needed strengthening. We have been talking about the strengthening of the Senate since 2013. This is the time that we must complete this journey. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when I sat in a talk show on Monday, a colleague from the National Assembly thought that we are scarred because we are not getting Kshs1 billion. I am totally distraught by this type of analogy; that we have issues because we are not getting Kshs1 billion. We have issues because recommendations of the Senate matter in this country and because we have argued systematically about these issues, and it is wrong for anybody to believe that the Senate has now created issues because of Kshs1 billion. We have continued to agitate about the functional powers of the Senate. I think that there was erosion of those drafts as I heard one of the speakers say; that they were well captured in the Bomas Draft; that the Senate was not necessarily an “Upper House” but an equally fully functional legislative House. It was also captured in the same spirit in the Committee of Experts (CoE) Draft, but was eroded based on our own political machinations at some point. In fact, it is stated nowhere that the Senate is the “Upper House”. Whether upper or lower, what is important is to discharge our mandate. We have a unique mandate; a House of equity. We are not just a legislative House; we are a House of equity. Based on that fact, we have a distinct mandate from the National Assembly, which must be given functional capacity for us to undertake that mandate. As I told my colleagues, they shall never be able to erode the recommendations of the Senate again with the kind of impunity that we have seen. The Senate must speak to every Bill from the National Assembly, much as in the same way they will also have an opportunity to speak to every Bill from the Senate. The Senate must be a fully functional legislative House. We must do away with the idea of citing a technicality in trying to torpedo every Bill that comes from the Senate. Any Bill can originate from the Senate and that was the spirit in the Bomas and the CoE Draft. That must be the spirit that we must look at. The Senate developed the tendency of being the Upper House through traditions, which placed this House as the “Upper House”. I think that we have already cemented a tradition in this country, whether we like it or not. As a political fact and reality, the Senate is the “Upper House” and people treat us as such. Even when the National Assembly passes an order of precedence to just elevate themselves, it does not matter to the public because they know who is “upper”. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is only in this country where there is an “Abunuasi” analogy; that you can win an election in one out of eight to nine constituencies or for my case, in six constituencies, then with an “Abunuasi” theory, allege that you are of an 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."
}