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    "id": 640481,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/640481/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 334,
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    "content": "Government. Unfortunately, we do not have a pure parliamentary democracy. We have a parliamentary democracy married to a presidential system, which then removes the Government from Parliament, a practice which I hope in looking into our Constitution anew, we should correct. In this day and age, most democracies which have done well in terms of economic development and good governance are parliamentary. For example, Singapore, Canada and Costa Rica are parliamentary democracies. It is because accountability is better in parliamentary democracies than otherwise. Given the direction in which the United States of America (USA) is going now, they could easily be presented with a Government that could steer back governance several decades behind. The other practice in parliamentary democracy is that there should be consultations between the Government-in-sitting and the government-in-waiting before the State of the Nation Address is given. This is because the government-in-waiting is a major component of the politics of the nation. The African situation where democracy is seen mainly in adversarial terms is one of the major reasons we are stagnating in economic development. Precisely, since democracy is seen too much in adversarial terms, when one Government goes out of the office and another one comes in, there tends to be discontinuity and therefore, inefficiency in the running of Government projects and policy making. Therefore, as we move from one State of the Nation address to the other, I hope that one day we will bring a Bill to this House – because this House should think for the nation - to discuss in details what it means to have a State of the Nation Address and what its contents should be. Although the Constitution specifies what the State of the Nation Address should contain, I do not think that is enough. Further, I hope that in future governments, there will be more extensive consultations between the Executive and the civil society before the State of the Nation Address. This is because the civil society is the bedrock of the nation. When I talk about civil society, I do not mean the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and busybodies that usually interact with Government. I mean that part of the nation which is not actively involved in politics. These are farmers in the countryside, businessmen and professionals. That is the component of the nation that we should talk about. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the State of the Nation Address is not just about Government policies and how they have succeeded or failed. It is about the health and situation of the nation and where the nation is going. If the recent opinion polls are anything to go by, they tell us that Kenya is headed in the wrong direction. I hope the President will address himself to what extent he knows and understand that Kenya is heading in the wrong direction and to what extent the Government has interrogated that finding by opinion polls. Such findings are not only to be found in opinion polls, but in the mode of the nation. Every Kenyan I have come across over the last couple of months is suffering. This is because the cost of living has gone up, some commodities cannot be found, it is expensive to get credit, and prices of certain commodities keep going up and down panda, shuka and kwasa kwasa all the time. We need to--- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}