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{
    "id": 560399,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/560399/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "“Laptop! Laptop! Laptop! Jubilee! Jubilee! Jubilee”! About Kshs17 billion was spent. I am told that two years down the line, challenges have been noted, but that promise must be fulfilled. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are not here to talk about the versions CORD and the governors are using. We are here as a House that must close the gap at a time when every evil force wants to intimidate and derail the aspirations and the plans the people of Kenya had when this Constitution was enacted. I want to thank all my colleagues in the Senate. You should remember that part of the intimidation we are facing from the “Lower House” is because they have refused to believe that at the grassroots, the Senate is the “Upper House” whether it is written or not. In West Pokot, we have four constituencies and I garnered 86 per cent of the votes. The total sum of all the votes garnered by the Members of Parliament who won the elections in that county and are now sitting in the “Lower House” is a staggering 44 per cent. A lay man will tell you that 86 per cent is more than 44 per cent. If you do not want to believe me, we should go to Class One and start addition mathematics together, then you will know that 86 per cent is higher than 44 per cent. The Governor for West Pokot County garnered 55 per cent. It means that the Senate was believed from history to be the Upper House. This is also written in the American Constitution. If you look at the House of Lords in England, it remains the Upper House. The world over, the Senate is the Upper House. Why is this Senate belittling itself just because we over-wrote our Constitution? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Kenyans are very good at book work. When I became the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industrialization I was surprised that in the library shelves of the Ministry, there exists a document which states that a fertilizer plant was built in 1983, sorted out and finished. The document is alive and kicking and brilliantly written. Sometimes I get surprised when people worry when they want to build new industries and yet we have all those drawings and the documentation ready. You only need to go and remove the dust from the document. We even included in our Constitution the unimaginable. Some issues were put in very small print. For example, issues pertaining to the Senate were really limited. It is now time to amplify these little things that were written about the Senate. For example, Article 96 (3) reads:- “The Senate determines allocation of national revenue among counties as provided in Article 217 and exercises oversight over national revenue allocated to the county government”. What does exercising mean? People ceased to believe and know what that role is. That is why the Senate in their wisdom said that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) which is supposed to be serving the welfare of Members of the National Assembly and the Senate should know that this provision exists. I must not be tortured to go and exercise oversight in my county over the money that has just been allocated to it, yet brilliantly and vigorously, the other money that has remained in the national Government is being fully taken care of. 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."
}