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{
    "id": 617450,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/617450/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 57,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity just to make a few remarks on this Motion. During the recess which was long, I personally learnt a lot. I stayed with my people in the county and it was obvious that a lot of civic education is required for people to understand the role of a Senator. A number of them understood, but many of them also felt that we are not being felt on the ground because of prevalent corruption which they perceive exists in most counties. As we go forward, the role of oversight should be given emphasis and we should be felt on the ground; that we are actually carrying out our role of oversight. They understood that the money goes to county governments because of the Senate. It also increased because of the Senate and they applauded us for that. However, we fall short because people do not know what we do on the question of oversight. I explained to them that initially the governors were not cooperative and it is only recently that we had a court ruling in our favour. As we go forward, the resources for oversight and so on should be emphasised. We must get them so that we can get to the ground over the issue of oversight. Secondly, on the issue of our relationship with the National Assembly, we are now in the Fourth Session, going to election next year. We would want to bequeath a Senate which has good ground and plays its proper role under the Constitution and which is in good relationship with the National Assembly, and not necessarily an acrimonious relationship. Before coming here I was sharing with your counterpart, Hon. Justin Muturi. I was quite happy when he mentioned that the National Assembly has many Bills before it, many of which will also be considered by the Senate. He mentioned it when he was addressing the National Assembly. I would like the Leadership of the Senate to take that on and let us be engaged more on that very issue. In the beginning, Members of the National Assembly said that the only Bill that we could discuss was the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. The matter was taken to the Supreme Court and it ruled the way the Senator for Siaya has said. In spite of that, we still get tricklings of legislations coming to us, in spite of the Supreme Court ruling that nearly all legislation is a matter that concerns counties, and, therefore, a legitimate matter to be discussed by the Senate. We want to see an improvement on that. I suggest that we take the Speaker on his word and see how we can improve on that aspect of legislation. Talking about legislation as you know---"
}