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{
    "id": 592386,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/592386/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak on this very important Motion. Along with my colleagues, I wish to congratulate the team that we appointed to look into these issues. It was a quality team with reflected the face of Kenya. It was a team of the young and old. It was a team that cut across religious loyalties. Most importantly, it was a team in which both sides of the political divide sat and deliberated. The fact that they have produced this good report, demonstrates that important issues facing this country can be dealt with when both sides come and reason together. That is the African way of doing things. The Senate is the House of elders and in the tradition way, the African elders sat together under a tree and agreed even on the most difficult issues. I am, therefore, pleased by the remarks that were made by the Mover of the Motion when he appealed that just as this Committee worked together, he hoped that the togetherness will continue when we come to the campaigns during the referendum for the adoption of this report. Just as the team worked in a non-partisan way, we also hope that when we adopt this report and go to the public, it will also be done in a non-partisan way. That is why I want to focus on the way forward because referendums can be very dicey. Most of the referendums that have been held, for example, in Europe on whether the country should join the European Union, you will find that the referendum is defeated, not so much on the advantages or disadvantages of the country joining the European Union, but because of some local issues. So, people vote not so much on the major issues but on local issues generated by the politicians. We even witnessed here when we were campaigning for this Constitution. You saw that the debate was not always on the substance of the Constitution as a whole but on an issue which had been misinterpreted. For example, it was said that the Constitution permits abortion. Therefore, a lot of emotions went into that. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, these good constitutional amendments that we have, I am very keen that the way we handle the way forward should not derail the result of the referendum due to concentrating on issues other than these very noble amendments. As Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. said, most of the major amendments to a constitution have been within one year of the promulgation of that constitution in many countries including the United States of America (USA) and India. We have not been able to do so within one year. When we were newly elected, it was our intention to have a constitutional amendment because of the challenge presented to the Senate but we cannot debate a very important Bill on Division of Revenue. We wanted to have a constitutional amendment on this but we could not do so due to other factors. Having said that, we are in a situation where we are now half way through our term and my fear is that the political temperatures are rising and the enabling environment to consider these issues soberly is becoming very difficult. This Committee has pointed the way, that in spite of the difficulties we may face, if we can do things in a non-partisan manner and focus on issues, 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."
}