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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the amendments proposed by my dear sister, Sen. Farhiya on the issue of the car, that is something that we can look into. However, I ask myself; how much money do we lose in terms of corruption? These are not so many people. We are looking at the Speakers of both Houses, the Deputy President, Chief Justice and other designated state officers and the former Prime Minister of this country. These are very few people. I was moved by the amount of power or benefit that the former President of the United States of America enjoys. Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., spoke about the way the former President of this Republic, President Mwai Kibaki is treated. When he goes to church, there is a seat there waiting for him and he enjoys the security. We must encourage this kind of thinking. Let us think about our future. It is high time we Members of Parliament took this thing very seriously. This is because the number of former Members of Parliament that I see walking in the corridors of Parliament shocks me. This issue of personal welfare is something that---. I agree with my dear sister when she talked about us looking at all other legislation that focuses on the personal welfare of State officers. This will help us to deter corruption. This is because there is no point of somebody going out there to start a briefcase company because having been a former State officer, he still has connections to come up and do shoddy jobs. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the entire issue of personal welfare of former State officers, Members of Parliament, Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), and even former councilors ought to be considered. That will help us move this country. Even the future generation will be looking forward to working for the Government because they know that once they are done, no one will alter their benefits. All Senators who spoke on this Bill, for example, Sen. Cheruiyot spoke about the issue of respect and dignity. When you respect me, I will definitely respect you. When I have served this nation diligently, I ought to be respected. If at any time anyone feels that there is a need to alter the benefits that have been given to me, they have a right to petition Parliament. When they petition Parliament, it will go before the leaders of both sides. Nobody will say you are targeting me because I do not agree with you politically. We will introduce a Clause whereby anyone who seeks to alter the benefits of a former State Officer will have to petition this joint committee for them to give justice. In most cases, when you give so much, you do not get much in return. However, I think we now have an opportunity, as a Senate, to talk about these issues. Once again, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank all the Senators who have contributed to this Bill; Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., Sen. Mwaura, Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve, Sen. Cherargei, Sen. Sakaja, Sen. Farhiya and Sen. Outa. Of course, I must thank Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri, who talked about what happens when one leaves office. In most cases, once State Officers leave their offices, their phones stop ringing completely. I know that one former State Officer spoke about this. He said that his phone would ring for 24 hours, 7 days a week when he was a Permanent Secretary. However, the moment he left office, he lost all his friends. When you lose your friends, who you are always cutting deals for, what about your immediate family? That is the reason why I ensured that in this Bill, the children of former State 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."
}