HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 578976,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/578976/?format=api",
"text_counter": 57,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On this matter, I have a different opinion from my colleagues. I beg to differ. My reading of Article 93 of the Constitution is that there is one Parliament established by the people of Kenya. The Senate and the National Assembly, with greatest respect to my colleagues, are Houses of Parliament. In fact, in law, we do not have an Act of the Senate or an Act of the National Assembly; we have Acts of Parliament. I was going to request that where we have a situation, in fact in good order going by that fact, it would have been necessary that all the laws that we pass through this Parliament should not be referred to as Acts of the National Assembly but properly as Acts of Parliament, even if for salutation purposes, that they pass through the Upper House in the Senate. That said, it is not difficult for us to decide what to do and what not to. An impression is being given that the National Assembly and the Senate are fighting for work. This House already has too much to do. I would request Members of the National Assembly, my colleagues in this House, to consider how much we have to do in terms of Article 95 and check whether we can exhaust doing what is given to us as our functions under Article 95. Admittedly, the limits of the Senate’s powers under Article 96 are very narrow. When they jump into a domain we consider ours, like dealing with this matter of Kenya Airways (KQ) and others--- Whether or not we may be insisting on strict division of roles and functions, it cannot happen in some spheres of life. Whether we like it or not, Kenya Airways will leave Nairobi and perch somewhere in Kisumu County. It will fly over counties wherever it is going before it leaves this country and within. If we were to dove-tail functions in that strict and rigid manner that my colleagues are proposing, we will have a situation in which this Senate, that is already crying, will not have any functions. It is going to be a totally useless House. Let us allow them. We are over-burdened by work even before clarity is brought to bear on the Constitution. If they jump to transport, the decent position we can take as the leadership of the nation, as the Parliament of Kenya together with the Senate, is to let them do that which they are doing. That does not limit our interventions if we want to intervene. We need to insist that when they deal with a national issue like the matter that they are now treating, let them submit their report to us also as the National Assembly to look at it. That is not to say that if they encroach on the leadership of the nation, we should not stop them. As I conclude, we need to defer a lot. We already have so much power. The Constitution is clear. It is not in the mind of any Kenyan that in terms of functions, roles and status, we are up there. When we have a joint sitting, our Speaker, yourself, presides over that sitting. That says something about the hierarchy of these two Houses of Parliament. In our communications as Parliament, you speak on behalf of the entire Parliament and not just the Senate or the National Assembly only. This is so clear. If there is a power vacuum in the country and we are praying it does not happen--- I would be personally glad as a Member of this House, if there were to be a power vacuum up there, so that you take over the reins of the leadership of the country for the moment as the Constitution stipulates. We already have so much. Let us allow Senators to do that which can engage them even if it means counting seats in the county assemblies, as Hon. Mbadi was saying. Remember the issues the Senate is dealing with are not the issues the Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) want to deal with. In most cases, they are even complicit like those ones Hon. Khalwale was talking about. If we do not have a House of Parliament intervening down there at times, then we will not be able to do the oversight role that we are talking about. I would request that we The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}