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{
    "id": 698597,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/698597/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
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    "content": "2013/2014 reports. I see a situation where this term may end when we have not even finished considering reports of a single year. That will be tragic. If we go on recess in December, we are likely to return in mid-February and going by the traditions of Parliament, it is unlikely that we will even have quorum because hell will have broken loose. This is one country where in the year of elections, life almost comes to a standstill. The energy and the distraction that is caused in campaigns is so grave that sometimes I wonder if we will be able succeed in doing things that we are currently doing. We have even important things like the budget, especially for the Senate, the annual County Allocation of Revenue Bill and the Division of Revenue Bill. I hope that we will find a way of getting quorum because I suspect that next year’s distraction is going to be very major. In fact, the Executive has recommended that the budget process be brought forward so that it starts a bit earlier, around December so that the Division of Revenue Bill and the County Allocation of Revenue Bill will have been passed by around 30th April, 2017. This is because it will be very ambitious to expect to have people to be here passing Budgets in May and June. Thirdly, on the issue of oversight funds, it is important that this has been mentioned by others.We have made some progress and this issue has really been delayed to the detriment of our oversight functions in the counties. I am happy to note that we are at the tail end of that exercise and the matter is now before the delegated Legislation Committees of both Houses.We hope that the matter will be resolved in the next few days so that we can commence this oversight fund business in whatever form so that the next Senate will have a seamless early start and will maybe do a more concrete work. It is better to be late than never, as they say. Finally, I hope that as we conclude this Fourth Session, we will be able to pursue the issue of Bills which have not obtained consideration and concurrence in the National Assembly as anticipated in the law. As a lawyer, I have been thinking whether it is in order for a constitutional office or an institution created under the Constitution to frustrate a constitutional process without consequences. If individual officers can attract consequences, I see no reason why a constitutional institution can frustrate a legal process or a constitutional process without consequences. My thinking is that during the remaining period, we shall engage administratively with our counterparts in the National Assembly and resolve this issue. I have been considering that the cure for this problem in the long term would be to amend the Constitution of our country so that concurrence becomes automatic either actively or by default. What I mean by this is that in the matter of the law making process, if the Executive tries to frustrate Parliament such that the President refuses to sign a Bill within a certain period of time, then that Bill automatically becomes law. That is at the inter- institutional level. That is the institution of Parliament vis a vis the institution of the Executive. Likewise, we need intra-institutional mechanisms to ensure that likewise, no single House within the legislature can frustrate the other. Therefore, in the future, we might need to have a clause similar to the one I have given example to, whereby if one House receives a Bill from the other and there is no concurrence within a certain period 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"
}