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{
    "id": 560397,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/560397/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 222,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 447,
        "legal_name": "John Krop Lonyangapuo",
        "slug": "john-lonyangapuo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I join my colleagues in supporting this Motion which was brought to this House by the Senate Majority Leader. On Monday, 15th June, 2015, the Senate unanimously agreed that it is now time that we assert our position as the House of reason and one that is supposed to guarantee and protect the Constitution, noting that our colleagues in the “Lower House” who refuse to be called by that name, have in one way or another since we began the year 2013, not been living with good intention in applying the Constitution. If you can recall as Senators do, in 2010, there was intense debate and campaign by the pro-Constitution and those who advocated for the Constitution to be passed but do some corrections at a later stage. That group came to be called the “No” Team and the one that proposed passing it quickly was called the “Yes” Team. Some people were even branded names such as water melons. I am neither “No” or “Yes”. Most of those terminologies came because of the desire to bring a document that was not going to harm Kenyans. It even forced the proponents of the “Yes” Team to plead with the “No” Team to pass the document the way it was and if there were issues which require to be amended, that could be done later. We are now at that stage where we find that we cannot move forward as a nation, with the aspirations that we used to have prior to 27thAugust, 2010 before the President lifted the new Constitution. There was a lot of excitement that poverty would disappear on 27th August, 2010. There was even a promise from the partners of Kenya that if we passed it, all our problems would come to a standstill and that we would now swim and live in the land of Canaan that is full of milk and honey. There is no iota of honey and milk today. We are seeing a lot of competition that was not there before. It is, indeed, time that we soberly sat down as Kenyans, led by this House. I know my colleagues on the other side have sat and in their desperation, they are also proposing an amendment which they are calling “ Okoa Kenya’. Governors in their desperation on the ground are calling theirs “ Pesa Mashinani” . They look at the amount of money going to the ground as opposed to a lot of it that remains at the national Government. Some examples are very vivid. Remember the Tana Delta Irrigation Project that was supposed to be done last year. The amount of money which was allocated to the project; Kshs13 billion, was quickly returned to the National Treasury. How many problems would it have sorted out? It would have sorted out a lot of problems and that is why the governors have those kinds of examples to cite. The laptop project which earned the Jubilee Coalition points to the extent that the CORD Coalition was beaten hands down in the campaigns, because every child in Kenya was singing: 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."
}