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    "id": 665030,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/665030/?format=api",
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    "content": "our job is to protect the interests of counties and county governments. Therefore, there is no need for you to stand as a Senator when you do not have the interests of devolution at heart. So, ideologically, both sides have one ideology; the protection of devolution in this country. Therefore, that ought to make us rise above the narrow political and ethnic interests that we are caught up in sometimes during the debates in this House. He told us that we should be statesmen and stateswomen. Looking around, these Senators who have remained in the House are the statesmen and stateswomen and other Senators should follow that example. They should cease the habit of going away and leaving the House almost empty. That is what the Chief Justice wants, so that we play our role. In fact, he told us that we have not lived up to the promise of the Senate. The promise of the Senate has not been realised. To live up to the promise of the Senate, we must not only change our ways, but also it becomes necessary to amend the Constitution. This House has a committee which made excellent proposals for amendment of the Constitution to restore the Senate to its place. There is a committee which is supposed to carry that way forward. Therefore, in order to fulfill what the Chief Justice said that we must live up to our promise, we should ensure that the amendments that our Committee ably drafted are enacted into law. I am always a pragmatist. I believe that may not be possible because some of them may require a referendum between now and the next elections. That is not possible, but those amendments are there. It will very well be that the incoming Senate which will be elected after 2017 will be the one to carry that mantle forward. That is why I am sometimes disturbed when I hear that many of our senior colleagues now want to vie for gubernatorial seats. Most of these senior colleagues who want to leave this House know the track record of where we have reached, up to the point of specific amendments to restore this House to its dignity. If they leave and we have a new Senate or new people with only a sprinkle of old faces here, shall we really achieve that in the next elections? That is why I appeal to them. Of course, it is their right to stand for governorship, but I want to appeal to them not to do so. From his speech, Hon. (Dr.) Willy Mutunga made it very clear and even made us know that we have not lived up to our promise. Therefore, this House still has some work to do and it requires able hands to do that. I would like to appeal to those Senators who have declared their interest for governorship to think again stand for re-election so that if people elect them, they will come back to this House and we will finish the job during the next term of the Senate. This will be my very strong plea arising out of the Chief Justice’s address. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as the Chief Justice leaves, the new Chief Justice will face great challenges. We have all observed some of the weaknesses in Judiciary. For example, there is weakness in expeditious disposal of cases. Although the backlog of cases has been reduced, there is need to have a system where the most urgent cases in courts, particularly those that touch on the operation of the Constitution itself, should be expedited and finalised quickly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we all know that this House met and exercised one of its most important functions. That was the impeachment of a governor. The very first 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"
}