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{
    "id": 808687,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/808687/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 274,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "oversee governors. Let the Senate redefine itself and the core job it was left to do after the law was turned upside down to make it a lower House subordinate to the National Assembly. This was a first in this world, because it happened in Kenya. When that happened the only thing they were left to do is basically to impeach the President or to protect devolution, not to oversee or promote, so that we do not pass a law here which kills devolution. That is why every law passed here which has an impact on counties has to go to them. That experiment seems to have failed and I believe it is high time this House took advantage of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) which is active to look at some of these things. For example, how the implementation of this experiment called the Senate is doing and what needs to be done. Is it still a sustainable experiment or something which should be remolded to make it relevant, so that we stop the kind of things they are trying to do? As you know we usually call the Cabinet Secretaries for questioning. We can invite a CS to the Departmental Committee on Education and Research, and then we find that he has also been invited to the Senate Committee of Education. The Senate is supposed to oversee and protect education at the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) level. We are seated here worrying about education at the university level; we cannot do the ECDE work. I think it is time we seriously thought about this model and our Committee should take it up. The substantive Speaker is also the Chair of Liaison Committee. Maybe, he can help us because coordinating committee work is becoming a problem due to interference from the Senate because they are idle and want some work to do. Their work should be defined and they should let the National Assembly do its work, so that Kenyans can get value for money. The fight against corruption is not just about the issues we are hearing out there. Misuse of public funds through doing the wrong job is also part of corruption. We need to fight this holistically and part of this is defining roles clearly. This is a good eye opener. I am glad that the Committee has seen it fit to annul all the Regulations in entirety. Any attempt to reintroduce them in whatever form should suffer the same fate. With those words, I request that this matter be taken a notch higher and we define the role of Senate. I would rather we have a referendum to have a Senate that works and we sort out the bilateral workings of these Houses. I beg to support."
}