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{
    "id": 703369,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/703369/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 196,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "House to undertake some of the recommendations. If the buck stops at the presidency, then what happens to the various recommendations that were proposed? We have the Sessional Committee on Devolution, Standing Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget. Some of the conflicts manifested themselves in this county leading to a tug of war because of the passage of the budget. The Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget can step in and address a number of issues. However, since the report did not find its way to this House, we had no opportunity to address those issues. Mr. Temporary Speaker, one of the Bills that we have just dispensed with in this House today was the Assumption of the Office of Governors Bill. That Bill was conceived after looking at what happened in the last elections in terms of the swearing in of the various governors. This particular Bill was conceived out of the issues surrounding Makueni County. The other Bills would have been conceived after we had addressed ourselves to the report if it found its way here. We are living in an age where we have right to information. However, it does not make sense to me to have a commission come up with a report and yet, we, as the Senate, do not discuss it. The residents of Makueni County, and indeed, this Senate have a constitutional right to discuss any report that touches on public issues. I wonder how members of Makueni County who petitioned for the suspension of their county feel. It is a pity that they presented their issues and appeared before the Commission, but the end product, is not known to them. They do not understand what happened or what became of the process. This particular Bill is very critical. My position is clear that we need to lower the thresholds of suspension or impeachment of the governor. How we can suspend a county? How it is managed under suspension and how to terminate it? These are legal questions. Therefore, we should not be very hysterical if that happens to a county because that is not the end of the world. It is a legal process which will provide us with an opportunity. You will be shocked to see the kind of pride exhibited by the governors running our counties. The grand standing in our counties is because people are working within the comfort of their offices. They are happy the way they are protected by their bodyguards and they earn their salaries at the end of the month. They do not care what happens to ordinary wananchi their counties. Assuming we were to take away some of these benefits from them, I believe most of them will regain their senses and realise counties are more important than themselves. So, these processes about suspension of a county, we should not set the threshold so high. I have a feeling that the President of the Republic of Kenya set the standards very high. The county has continued to be dysfunctional on the basis that some of the real issues were never addressed in the first place. Therefore, even as we provide for clarity in the process of ensuring that that report gets to the Senate, it is incumbent upon all of us to play our role. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we, as a Senate, have had several impeachment processes coming to the House. The last one was related to Nyeri County. The Senators, including myself, made a verdict that the threshold to impeach the governor had not been met. A few weeks after, two of the county staff were found guilty to have violated various provisions of the law and some were jailed or fined. 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"
}