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{
    "id": 774319,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774319/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 166,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Sen. Sakaja. We also went to the same school, as the Deputy Speaker and that is why you are very good in the arrangement of English words. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to share with the distinguished Senators. Recently, we visited Washington DC with the Deputy Majority Leader. Washington DC is the capital of the United States of America (USA) and it is interesting that it does not have a Senator with voting power. It does not even have a congresswoman or congressman with voting power. Yes, it has a Senator, a congressman and congresswoman, but when they go to Congress they do not vote because they want Washington DC to retain its distinct identity as the capital of the nation. So, they do not want it to be called a Democratic or a Republican State, and that is how it has worked for them. The other example is our next door neighbour, Uganda. The City of Kampala used to have a Lord Mayor. In their wisdom, they decided to create Kampala City Authority because they felt that Kampala City was such an important place that could not be left to be run by politicians. In Kenya, we have gone for limited sovereignty for the capital city, in the sense that it is controlled by a county assembly and has representatives that have got rights to vote in both the National Assembly and the Senate. It was for this reason that even in the last Parliament we saw a proposal by one of the Senators, which I believe still lies alive somewhere. The proposal was that Nairobi status be converted, so that it is not a county in the strict sense, but it is accorded some special privileges and obligations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if my fellow Senators look at Clause 6 of the proposed amendment, you will find that this Bill attempts to force Nairobi to do something, which in my view, is unconstitutional. This Bill says that: “Nairobi County shall enter into an agreement with the national Government.” The word cannot be “ shall.” We already have the Intergovernmental Relations Act that provides ways through which governments at the two levels can go into agreements. You cannot come up with a Bill that forces Nairobi County to enter into an agreement with the national Government because that is the first step towards bastardization of the status of Nairobi County. For that reason this is dangerous. I want to call upon the Senator for Nairobi County and all of us to look at that particular provision. If it is an obligation, it is dangerous. Perhaps, the right word should be ‘ may’ because that reflects the spirit in the Intergovernmental Relations Act. I would also like to propose that we have some national conversation on relocation of the capital of Kenya from Nairobi to Isiolo where Sen. Dullo comes from. We can even take it to Machakos where we want to have Konza City. This has been done 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."
}