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{
    "id": 751029,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/751029/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 955,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I hope that the incoming Senate will have a better working relationship with the National Assembly. As we have heard today, our 30 Bills which have been referred to the National Assembly have not been processed. If you look at the list of those Bills, you will see that they are very important Bills. With regard to the Bills that were referred to the Senate by the National Assembly desiring concurrence, only a few of them remain to be concluded. In fact, we have concluded more of them in this sitting. So, we had good faith as the Senate. We wanted to provide leadership. Of the two Houses, we are the elders and we did not seek revenge as people with small minds do. The National Assembly did not treat us as we deserved. However, we were mature enough, and we passed the necessary Bills that were to be passed by this House. The other challenge is that the National Assembly, together with the National Government, challenged the Senate’s legislative power. The big challenge was on our oversight role. This took almost the entire period of our term. Three quarters of our term, we were locked up in the courts of law arguing what our role is. It was even challenged by the governors. I am glad that in the end, the courts pronounced themselves on this matter. They said the Senate has the power to summon the governors to come and account for the revenue they received from the National Government. Therefore, in the latter period of our term, we began to play out our role as it ought to be. Having said that, in the appropriate scenarios, we agreed to disagree. One example is the Electoral Amendment laws that were brought before us for debate last December. We filed a minority report on the matter. This was not done by fisticuffs, but with brains, reasoning and debating soberly. I am glad that we did that. There is unfinished business. The new Constitution has been in existence for over five years. An audit ought to have been carried out. I am not talking about the one that was carried out by the National Assembly. That was not a proper audit of the entire Constitution. It recommended that the Senate should be scrapped. That was not an audit worth mentioning. As the Senate, we appointed a Committee that made an excellent report on the amendments that ought to have been carried out on the Constitution, for example, on devolution and the place and role of the Senate. It is a pity that we were not able to finalise it. It could have led to the amendment of the Constitution. I hope that the incoming Senate will incorporate the proposals of the Council of Governors (CoG) in pursuing that matter. Most of their proposed amendments were similar to ours. Also, they should incorporate the county assemblies’ proposals. If it will be possible, we should have a constitutional referendum on the constitutional issues within two years of the election. I say so from my good experience having been involved in the Constitution making. In the year 1991, I told the National Assembly; “You are just making small amendments to accommodate the multiparty state by removing the Kenya African National Union (KANU) and declaring that this country is a multiparty State.” I then, later said: “We shall have a more comprehensive amendment to the Constitution after that.” That never came about until the year 2010 when we passed the new Constitution. It took a long time. I say so because, once you delay in having these amendments carried out in a referendum, it will come close to the next general elections when politics"
}