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{
    "id": 744426,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/744426/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 104,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "June 14, 2017 SENATE DEBATES 21 Sen. (Prof) Lesan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I want to thank the Procedure and Rules Committee that took their time and exerted their energies in reviewing the Standing Orders that we have been using in that last three years. It is the right time to look at this Report, having been here for close to four years using the Standing Orders that were adopted and passed by the National Assembly in the absence of the Senate. We have done as much as we could using the current Standing Orders. We are now well informed, having experienced the challenges with the current Standing Orders. The speakers before me have enumerated cases of unease within the Senate as a result the current standing orders. Most of the work that has been done in the Senate and the National Assembly has been in the committees. This House has spent a lot of time on Committee work. I want to congratulate the Members of committees, particularly those that I serve in. I know the amount of work and knowledge that we put in in order to assist the nation. In the current standing orders, as a consequence of Standing Order No. 146 that has been cited by one of my colleagues, the work that we have put in will probably lapse or be ignored. Some of the committees’ work if not implemented, will “throw away” thousands of Kenyan shillings. Their recommendations are to try and salvage funds that will be lost for not applying the committees’ reports. I am particularly concerned about the Public Accounts Reports that have not been tabled in the House. Because of this Standing Order No. 146, they will lapse and a lot of public money will be lost. That will be unfortunate. This standing Order No. 146 is not specific, it does not specify exactly what will happen if a Bill that has been passed in one House of Parliament lapses in the sister House while seeking its concurrence. This is one area of the current Standing Orders that needs to be tidied up. I know of valuable Committees Reports that were generated as a result of a Private Member initiative. One example is the Select Committee on Inquiry into Affairs of Kenya Airways Report. Kenya Airways was throwing away millions of Kenyan shillings because of incompetence in its running. A member took the initiative of proposing to this House to establish a Select Committee that came up with useful information, an eye opener, of how resources of the country were being wasted by incompetent bodies. Unfortunately, because of the Standing Orders that relate to the two Houses, as this Select Committee was working, there was jeering from the National Assembly purporting that the Committee was doing work that was outside its mandate. The information that the Select Committee was giving to the nation was the kind that would have saved millions of Kenyan shillings. It was appropriate and we did the right thing to form a Committee to look at the senate Standing Orders before the end of this session. I know there are some Bills that we ought to have passed. There is one Bill about the pensioners from the county governments that as I was coming to this House, a member of the public expressed serious concerns about. The Bill is still pending in this House. It would have helped to elevate the lives of the county workers and motivate them to work better. The Bill will lapse according to Standing Order No. 146. It is an important Bill that this House could have passed. It directly plays in to our hands as custodians of"
}