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{
    "id": 644363,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/644363/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 179,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "April 13, 2016 SENATE DEBATES 29 Sen. Sang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the President’s Address. I thank the President of the Republic of Kenya for fulfilling his constitutional mandate. The responsibility bestowed on him to address Parliament; specifically on the State of the Nation is an important constitutional provision in this country. With the new constitutional dispensation he does not sit in Parliament. Therefore, it is important that he has an opportunity to present a State of the Nation Address to Members of the National Assembly whose constitutional responsibility is to represent the people of this country. It is also important for us in the Senate who represent the counties to have an opportunity to interrogate, discuss, critique and appraise him. Therefore, I congratulate him for living to this expectation. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the drama that greeted the Presidential address was regrettable. It is unfortunate this afternoon some hon. Members in this House seemed to suggest that it is okay to flout every Standing Order that we believe in and do whatever we deem fit. We have Standing Orders which guide us in this House on how to express our dissatisfaction with regard to the issues that we think the President needs to address or he has failed to address in this country. We cannot allow a situation where we colour anarchy an attempt to disrupt a constitutional process in Parliament and try to mask it under something we call “parliamentary autonomy and freedom of expression”. Every right as provide for by the Constitution has limitations. Therefore, we must be people who believe in the rule of law. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale who focused on this particular element this afternoon complained the other day of the kind of chaos that was visited on them in Kakamega Town. Therefore, if we were to stretch the imagination that one can still engage and voice dissatisfaction we should then have said that the characters who visited chaos on Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and the Senate Minority Leader when he launched his presidential bid were right to do so. That cannot be the case Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is, therefore, important that we, as a country, should think through our Constitution and the legislation that we enact in this House. We should think through the Standing Orders and live by them because that is the only way we can have an orderly state. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we know the President addressed himself to a number of issues when he delivered his speech to us. Even if you want to disagree with the Jubilee Administration, it is important to appreciate what they have done. The fact that the SGR is being build is commendable. We can raise issue with the pace at which it is being done and say that it should also cover other regions, but we cannot just dismiss it. It is a fundamental infrastructural development taking place in this country. We are left wondering; if some of these individuals had the opportunity to run this country, what is it that they would deliver to the people of Kenya? If developing or reconstructing a railway line or expanding the generation of electricity of this country and provision of medical equipment to various hospitals in our counties does not make sense, then I am left wondering what it is that people will consider as a milestone in terms of development. I congratulate the President in a number of areas that he highlighted. I would like to focus on one particular element. The Senate has a responsibility to look into the affairs of the counties. Whereas we had challenges in the initial years; we had challenges with 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"
}