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{
    "id": 706001,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/706001/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
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    "content": "history just like the promulgation of the Constitution. If we make mistakes now, 2016 will go down in the annals of history as the year when mistakes were made. It will be seen as the year when a certain treaty was not ratified and it will also be noted that Kenya failed to note that there was an East African Treaty which was there in the 1970s. If we do not involve the Senate, then, what else are we saying? Therefore, we are wasting time. I appreciate that this Bill has come at the right time. If it was not for the Chairman of the Committee, some of us will not have known what happens. I appreciate that it has come at this time. As the Senate, we are debating it and we support it. Let us not shy away from supporting what is good for our country. If what we are talking about today will be read by our children in future, then they will be saying that Senate saved a position in Kenya which would have gone haywire if it were not for this Bill. So, the Bill is correct; it is in the right place and has been ably moved by the Chairman. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we should support it. Without doing so, other countries will be passing their treaties unabated, for example, Nigeria, Egypt and so on. They have their treaty making process. If we sideline this process and decline to go the way other countries are going, Kenya will lag behind because it will lack partners. This is a good ingredient. Other countries should know that Kenya has friends, and more so international ones. As of now, we can maintain international friendship without a treaty. There is no way we can have a treaty which is not ratified. We are aware of the ratification of a treaty which has not been considered by Parliament. If this a bicameral Parliament, why do we allow the National Assembly to sit and ratify treaties without even informing the Senate? The Senate is an “Upper” House. It is a House of serious people. So, let us be given that right to peruse and see what it is so that before something like that one is passed, we will determine whether it is right or wrong. We will compare ourselves with other countries which have already moved up because of such agreements which are very useful. Without ratifying some of these treaties, how do we partner with those countries which would like us to partner with them? It is through ratification of treaties. I have given you examples in history. We have seen how we have benefited from past treaties. We can also benefit in future. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to support."
}