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{
    "id": 757418,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/757418/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 202,
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    "content": "in writing, but when we are out there - this goes to the President and the members of the Jubilee party - we attack the Judiciary. I want to request and urge the hon. Members to respect the three arms of Government and give them the respect they deserve. I was encouraged when the Senate Majority Leader talked about this Senate taking its upper position. I look forward to a period where we, the Senators, can work hand in hand to ensure that this is, indeed, the upper House. Devolution will not work if this Senate will not have the original jurisdiction on legislation. We are enslaved and held hostage by the fact that any legislation that we come up with has to go back to the National Assembly. During this period, I commit to working in a bipartisan way to ensure that we have a true upper House. As someone from Narok County, we complained a lot about the issue of fiduciary duty in the face of the Governor. We are here castigating and talking a lot about the Auditor General yet we forget about the governors who we are supposed to check. Mr. Speaker, you will agree with me that you had a free hand in creating budgets. There was no way for the Auditor General to audit the governor’s secretariat budget. I hope that we will come up with legislation in this House that will look back at the transitioning era. We lost a lot of revenue during the transitioning period. You will forgive me for this, but that is why you could afford to use a helicopter when you were the governor. Nobody would ask you where you were getting all that money. We, as Senators, must look forward to a period where there will be respect for the rule of law. I feel that the Jubilee administration has selective amnesia when it comes to respecting the rule of law. As we advance further in this Senate, I hope that we will not forget that we are here to represent the interest of Kenyans who have sent us here. With regard to devolution, I look forward to a period where, we, as Senators, will be facilitated enough to enable us promote public participation. There is no point of us being in this House, rubberstamping things that we do not agree with yet our people are suffering on the ground. Before I make my comments on the President’s speech, it behooves us, as the Senators, to look at what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they came up with the six elective positions. We need to understand why we have the position of the President, Senator, Governor, Member of the County Assembly, Women Representative and the Member of National Assembly. In my view, the framers of this Constitution wanted Wanjiku to feel the power of these leaders. It will be pointless for us to sit in this House and put rubberstamps claiming that we are doing it as prescribed by Article 96 of the Constitution. That is playing the role of oversight, yet we have limited powers. We must fight to get original jurisdictions on legislation. I hope you will work hand in hand with the Speaker of the National Assembly such that the laws that we pass here do not have to go back to the National Assembly. I know some of this might require the amendment of the Constitution. This is supposed to be a House of union. In Narok County, we have 341,000 voters. In Nairobi, there are several million voters, yet we only have one Senator representing them. In my view, the Senate was meant to be a House of union because it brings us all together. I look forward to a period where we will develop legislation that will recognize all the 43 ethnic groups in this country. The issue of dominance and exclusion is what will divide this country further."
}