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{
    "id": 782458,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/782458/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 325,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "of revenue, where we have a dispute between the National Assembly and the Senate on any Bill, they have proposed that the Speaker should appoint three eminent Senators – Senior Counsel or otherwise – to sit in what would be a small conclave of wazee, to agree on what would be a method of moving forward Bills, where under Article 110 (3) of the Constitution, the Speaker of the Senate and Speaker of the National Assembly do not agree on whether a matter concerns counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, I was a little amazed that the Supreme Court removed clauses from Sen. Murkomen’s Bill and adopted them the way they are. I do not know whether to say that these are proposals of Sen. Murkomen or the Supreme Court. Needless to say, my view is that like in the Bill that Sen. Murkomen and I chaired a Committee of the Constitution amendment, a better way to do things is to have this in the Constitution as opposed to mirroring the vacancy of the Deputy President and that of a deputy governor. I am not quite sure whether I agree with that principle of mirroring and putting them in the same platform. Similarly, governors will say: “Put me in the same platform as the President of the Republic. I am immune from prosecution and shall not come to the Senate.” We should avoid those provisions where we say the drafters of this Constitution forgot to mirror a deputy governor and a Deputy President. That, for me, is dangerous. I think we must have an amendment to the Constitution to cater for this. In Clause 2, Sen. Murkomen has proposed that the county executive committee member shall develop the symbols of the county through a consultative process, submit a symbol for approval and apply to the College of Arms for grant of arms. It is a good thing. I said in the Assumption of Office of the County Governor Bill that some governors were handing over carvings. In Nairobi County, papers were handed over and in Kitui and Kiambu counties, the governors refused to come. We must have something that will be a symbol of authority that can be handed over to a governor, the way we have it in the Assumption of Office the County Governor Bill. Similarly, we grappled with the issue of speakers; how to deal with the vacancy of the office of the speaker because it was missing. We had proposed Clause 11 in the previous law. Sen. Murkomen, in his usual energy, had made a provision on this together with Sen. Elachi, who is now a Speaker, but it never saw the light of day. So, speakers all over the country became powers that be; more powerful than the power itself, to the extent that one of them came to the Senate on an invitation, put his legs up in the air in a conference room, and we could do nothing about it. We cannot allow that. Madam Temporary Speaker, the last issue is on the question of the deputy governor. The reason we must have that amendment is that it cannot appear--- This is an exception and we do not expect that there will be so many cases like this, but if this deputy governor is elected under this process proposed by Sen. Murkomen and, God forbid, the Governor is no longer there--- That is where the Supreme Court left another lacuna. Take the case of Ms. Ann Kiguta who has been proposed by Gov. Sonko. If something happens, does she become governor or will there be a vacancy? That sort of lacuna must be addressed. That is why I propose that other than lifting these clauses, we must have one more amendment to say that in the absence of the governor, the person holding office under this Clause, shall be subjected to an election, so that we then give 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."
}