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{
    "id": 803360,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/803360/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "The Deputy Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(Sen. (Prof.) Kindiki): Sen. Wamatangi, resume your seat. I gave a bit of time for Senators to contribute and make observations though strictly speaking, that is not anticipated in the Standing Orders. As you are aware, the Statement by the Senate Minority Leader, who is also the Senator for Siaya County, has been made under Standing Order No. 46(2)(a) which says:- “A Senator may make a statement on a county issue or an issue of general topical concern” If you read the following paragraphs, that Standing Order does not provide mechanisms nor does it have any requirements for observations or even further action other than saying that the Senator shall have a maximum of ten minutes. Of course, the Senator took approximately that amount of time and the other Senators have taken 20 minutes, if not more. Nevertheless, the matter raised by Sen. Orengo is a serious matter of great national concern and it touches on the security of our country and the territorial integrity of our nation. In particular, some of the Senators who have spoken provided useful information including the Senator for Bungoma, who has been a Minister for Foreign Affairs for Kenya before and the Senator for Busia, who has been the Attorney General and has been privy to this process. Having said that, I want to draw your attention to Standing Order No. 1, which you quote many times. Standing Order 1(2) says: “The decisions made in paragraph (1) shall be based on the Constitution of Kenya”--- It goes on and on, but I want to stop at the point of ‘the Constitution of Kenya.” In other words, this Standing Order is sometimes used to invoke precedents and customs, which come at the tail end. But at the very beginning of that Standing Order, the Speaker is empowered to make decisions, which are not specifically covered in the Standing Orders, if the matters in question have a constitutional import or relevance. I have in particular looked at two Articles of the Constitution. One is Article 94(2) on the role of Parliament. I have looked at this article, especially considering that in most cases when looking at the role of the Senate, the common thing is to run to Article 96, which is on the specific role of the Senate. But Article 94 captures the roles of the two Houses of Parliament. Article 94(2) says: 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."
}