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{
    "id": 776958,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/776958/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Eng.) Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I would like to join fellow Senators in congratulating our colleagues who have been appointed to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). They have already been approved by the National Assembly and it is now our duty to do the same. I would like, from the onset, to support the Motion. The PSC is a creation of the Constitution of Kenya. One of its main responsibilities is to provide services and facilities to ensure efficient and effective functioning of Parliament, which is made up of the two Houses. In the last Parliament, the Senate felt like it was not getting the same services from the PSC. It reached a point where we even contemplated having a Senate Service Commission and the National Assembly Service Commission. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the representation in the PSC, we are disadvantaged as the Senate. This is because we have three Members while the National Assembly has four Members, in addition to their Speaker, as the Chairman. So, anything which will be intended to serve only the interests of the Senate will be difficult to pass through that Commission. For example, if you look at the facilitation we get, having in mind that a Senator represents at least two or even up to 12 constituencies in some counties, the office facilitation and the salary we get is the same as that of a Member of the National Assembly. That is not proper facilitation and, therefore, Members who are going to that Commission will have to look at that. During the Eleventh Parliament, we even tried to get oversight money so that we can perform our responsibilities, but we could not get it. Every time this occurs we realise that it is because we are being disadvantaged by our numbers in the PSC, as much as these numbers are there in the Constitution. But having gone through the first Senate, this Constitution is not cast in stone and we have to look at how to amend it so that we can have equal representation. We would like a case where even the Chair of the PSC is alternated; but as it is now, the Speaker of the Senate is nowhere in the PSC. There must be some way he can alternate with the Speaker of the National Assembly as the Chairperson of the PSC so that our issues can be brought out clearly. But as it is right now, we are always at the mercy of the Members of the National Assembly because of their numbers and the fact that the Chairperson of the PSC is their Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the experience we had in the last Senate is that, if an issue is in the interest of the Senators only, then we cannot get it through the Commission. We only get interests which are for all the Members of Parliament. But when it comes to something which we are asking for, as Senators; for instance, when we say that we should get more office money and facilitation since we are representing a wider area, it does not go through. When it also comes to salaries, you get the same amount as somebody representing only one constituency, yet you are representing 12 constituencies. 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"
}