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{
    "id": 812053,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/812053/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 143,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13188,
        "legal_name": "Getrude Musuruve Inimah",
        "slug": "getrude-musuruve-inimah"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to add my voice to this important Bill. First, public participation is an integral part in leadership. We cannot avoid public participation because it is the centre that holds the leaders and their constituents. The Bill is coming at the right time when we have been told many times and even when the President talked about commitment to serve and therefore public participation comes in. When we went to Kakamega to meet the governors, the core issue was that Senators work with governors for the purposes of helping the people in our counties. We cannot help people in the counties without public participation. This Bill is quite timely and it has a strong backing of the Constitution. Our Constitution reminds us clearly in Article 1(1) that sovereign power belongs to the people of this country. When we allow people to participate in the projects that we want to do for them, we will be taking leadership to them and we will be doing as the Constitution demands; that power belongs to the people. When we allow them to participate, in essence we will be acknowledging that they are the owners of this country and we will be giving them the strength that they deserve constitutionally. The Constitution says clearly that in exercising their power, the people can do it through their leaders as we represent them here and they can also do it directly through public participation. Public participation allows us to do what the Constitution demands by allowing people to participate in the things that involve them. In essence, public participation acts as a contract. As leaders, we are telling people we are ready to listen to them. When we allow them to participate, we will be giving them an ear and that is what our people want. As we lead people in this country, they want to see us listening to them. They only need to tell us what they need and the problems they have. They want to be part of solving the problem. Once we give them an ear, we keep them informed on pertinent issues that they may not know. 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."
}