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{
    "id": 609999,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/609999/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 151,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Melly",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1099,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Kipkemboi Melly",
        "slug": "isaac-kipkemboi-melly"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I also want to take this opportunity to thank the leadership of the Senate led by the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader for giving us this chance to come together and chart the way forward of what happened the last few weeks as far as issues of Budget are concerned. At the outset, I must say that from the time we started debating this Motion, we all appreciate that we now must be united as the Senate of this country. It is not about which party you come from; the matter before us calls for all Senators irrespective of the party they come from to come together, reason together and protect the institution of the Senate that was established to deal with issues of the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, two-and-a-half years down the line, this House has operated without any facilitation whatsoever. We have never had any budget allocation to make sure that we do our oversight job from one sub-county to the other. I want to tell the Members of the National Assembly who made a decision to deny the Senate Kshs1 billion that for those past two-and-a-half years, we were able to operate without asking for any favour. We even went to the extent of using our own resources to ensure that we are in charge and that we oversight allocations to different sectors in our counties. Kenyans are watching this space because from the time we came to this House with very many challenges on our way, the Senate has stood the test of time. From the kind of decisions this House makes from time to time, it is very clear that this is a House of good standing and we need to appreciate that. Madam Temporary Speaker, if you look at what happened during the vetting of Dr. Juma as the Secretary to the Cabinet, you will appreciate that in the future, we will need hon. Senators to approve Government officers. The Senate should handle issues of vetting because we believe that this is a sober House. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is a difference between us and Members of the National Assembly as seen today by Kenyans. First, a Senator tries to push for as much resources as possible to counties in order for the counties to progress. However, Members of the National Assembly are doing the opposite. It has gone to an extent that even Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) – for counties that we visited as the Senate to find about challenges they have been facing in doing oversight – appreciate that they also have the same challenges as we do today. Secondly, Madam Temporary Speaker, Members of the National Assembly should know very well that they are not charged with giving resources to different departments and sectors of the Government of this country. Their role is just to make the budget. A time has come whereby the National Assembly should take its time to agree and say, “Today, we will give this House this much and we shall give this institution this much.” Madam Temporary Speaker, we appreciate the fact that we have a bicameral Parliament in this country; the Senate and the National Assembly. When the Constitution talks of Parliament, we tend to think of the National Assembly. That is why, today, we are operating in a platform completely out of what the Constitution requires of us because we believe we have a role as Senators. Any other time an issue comes to this House, Members of this House have debated it in a sober way and we made progress. 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."
}