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{
    "id": 646726,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/646726/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) G.G. Kariuki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 330,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Gitahi Kariuki",
        "slug": "gg-kariuki"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank you for allowing me to contribute on this Bill. Every time we open our mouths to speak, we should try to understand the reason for issues that have happened. We do not need to be jumping to conclusion all the time without solutions. The kind of solutions we think that we have are never backed by any law. I, therefore, commend the Members of the Mediation Committee. Both Houses made mistakes from the word go. We have Members of Parliament (MPs) on the other side and others on this side who are legal professionals. Sometimes agreeing on any issue is not studied from the law. It is started by human thinking, for instance, on how to co-exist with others but the moment you have Sen. (Dr.) G.G. Kariuki and Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. taking on each other on legal understanding, it is difficult. We found it very difficult when we came to this House because we started badly and poorly. However, it is quite normal. Where you have more than 10 lawyers, what do you expect? What kind of training have they gone through? You have to understand that it is very difficult to get anything out of them. That is why the Mediation Committee is important as far as I am concerned. This enables us to communicate as brothers. In addition, what is the main role of the MPs? First of all, we are elected to discuss issues. The purpose of discussions is to inform the country that certain issues are relevant to our lives. That is why we discuss them. We come to the Floor of the House not to talk to ourselves. We address the public and invite them to give their views on matters that we discuss. Therefore, that is the work of the MPs. They must end up having something like the Mediation Committee, a committee of understanding of this House and the other House to ascertain which direction we are taking. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as you may recall, when we came to this House, we started fighting over which House is more powerful than the other. From the word go, I said that we were wrong because none of the two Houses is powerful than the other. It is just like the Judiciary or any other national institutions. Therefore, this being one of them, it has to be handled with an idea that other people from other institutions are watching and listening to us. We must accept that some people who are not here are informed. They know what is happening. The only thing they cannot do is to shout because they do not have the authority to do so from the public. The other point is that when we talk about charcoal burning, destruction of forests and natural resources, it is not something new. Have we discovered it now? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we must know how we started. If you start economic programmes based on advancing some areas of life and forgetting others, in the next 50 years, we shall not be equal economically. If we have good plans and programmes, we shall go a long way towards stabilising our people. There is no way we can be stable when the farms are fenced off and the animals are protected by armed forces. We can be free when we know that the animals will roam the country without anyone interfering with them. That is the problem we need to look at as leaders of this country. When it is said that law is for everyone and you find people behaving as if they do not belong here yet the system tolerates this behaviour, there is something wrong. The 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"
}