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{
    "id": 609915,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/609915/?format=api",
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    "content": "governed by constitutional principles, once people have issues with interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution, the only last resort is for them to go to the courts. That is why, in the wisdom of the Senate, we proceeded to the Supreme Court. That matter was settled, once and for all. It is now clear that regarding the Division of Revenue Bill, the National Assembly and the Senate contribution must be adhered to. To see Members of the National Assembly and an entire institution going in the direction of disregarding the opinion of the Supreme Court and even taking it further to the level of attempting to appear as if they are punishing or competing with the Supreme Court, is really unfortunate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Chapter Six of the Constitution on leadership and integrity can be read together with Article 73 of the Constitution which relates to the responsibilities of leadership. It talks about the authority assigned to a state officer. This is important because you will remember that Members of the National Assembly once drafted a constitutional amendment that attempted towards exempting them from being State officers. I know that, that is a tall order. As I speak, Members of the National Assembly and ourselves are State officers. Article 73 (1) (a) (iv) of the Constitution says:- “Authority assigned to a State officer is a public trust to be exercised in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the office.” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the process and manner in which the Members of the National Assembly dealt with the Division of Revenue Bill is unfortunate. It has brought the entire institution of the National Assembly under sharp focus by Kenyans. We have raised issues relating to the manner in which the National Assembly has conducted its business. For a long time, people thought that the arrays of issues that we raised against the National Assembly were treated as if we were engaging in a supremacy battle. However, this Division of Revenue Bill and the manner in which they handled it clearly showed all Kenyans who the Members of the National Assembly are. When we went through the mediation process and an agreement was reached, just like the Senate Minority Leader pointed out, one of the Members of the National Assembly, hon. T.J. Kajwang actually stood with the position of the Senate. They agreed to raise the resources going to the counties by Kshs3.3 billion. That settled the matter. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to appreciate the National Assembly for recognizing the fact that, that was the position. Once the Mediation Committee agreed on that particular matter, that was sorted. Therefore, for them to punish the various institutions was not fair. For example, the Judiciary was cited as one of the institutions that needed to be punished because of two things: One, was because of the High Court declaring the CDF unconstitutional. Second, was because of the Supreme Court giving the advisory that the Division of Revenue Bill has to be handled by both Houses. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is unfortunate that one institution, one arm of Government, would think that they have this big hammer or a huge knife that they can discipline any other arm of Government when they disagree with them. We are not telling the Judiciary that in the process of finalizing the appeal by the Members of the National Assembly, to rule in a particular manner with regard to the CDF. I know that the Judiciary will pronounce itself focusing on the law and looking at the existence 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."
}