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{
    "id": 584341,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/584341/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 349,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Empower people who in this country have never been empowered before to realize that they can raise these questions. Before they do that, because they might not be able to do it as a group, they have a chance to do it in the form of petitions. For a long time, petitions have been coming into the Senate and we have been trying to answer them adequately. Even at the county assembly, it is possible to bring these questions and have them answered properly. I remember in one of the committees when we were visiting various counties, we went to one of the counties and met our counterpart committee. As we were having discussions with Members of that County Assembly, a Committee Member asked us as Senate, what we were doing to address the scarcity of water in their county. We told them that it is not for us to do that. They have the power. They should be part and parcel of the planning process, they need to indicate what needs to be done in the counties, and they need to hold the county government accountable. I think this particular Bill comes at the right time and it tries to bring into effect Article 37 where each person has a right to demonstrate, assemble and present petitions. It is something that we should be able to do willingly and easily. It is something that we have been encouraging people to do. What has been missing is the procedure. That is why this Bill is very critical. The procedure for doing that has not been clear and I think even as we started off, it seemed like petitions were going to be handled at the national level but here is a chance for us to cascade the receiving of petitions to the county assembly level and I think that is very critical. That cascading to the county level will also be able to contextualize issues and be able to answer specific questions in specific county assemblies. People in those county assemblies should understand what is going on and what is missing in those county assemblies. There should be a general interest by everybody of what is happening in the county assemblies, and that this should not just be a club of a few. That county development is for everybody. It needs to be enshrined in plans of the various counties. This becomes very critical. In the Bill, there are very specific provisions that have been done on how that Petition should be formulated. This is very critical. But if I look at part (e) where the subject matter must be indicated, I think that is important so that there is no confusion about what the Petition is all about. It might be a Petition within petitions. So it is important to have the header of that Petition clear so that there is no confusion about what is happening and, therefore, handle multi-petitions without realizing what the key issue is meant to be. That becomes very critical. The idea that the petitions must have the names and addresses is very important because, one, it gives the identification and that these are issues coming from specific counties. I think more importantly, it gives the weight and the trust that is needed in specific petitions. I have seen petitions with about 50 or 200 members. It will be great to have a petition with almost the whole adult population from a specific county so that county governments can begin to feel the weight of the people they are in charge of and so that they can be able to tell that this comes from the people. It will also help Members to authenticate and know that these are the members who stay in a particular county and they are the ones who have presented these particular petitions. This will help people to 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."
}