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{
    "id": 841565,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/841565/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 481,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Linturi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 69,
        "legal_name": "Franklin Mithika Linturi",
        "slug": "franklin-linturi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I wish to start by thanking the distinguished Senator for Bungoma County, Sen. Wetangula, for bringing this matter to this House for debate. Today, we are in a situation that once faced the country in 2008, when the National Assembly passed the National Accord. At that particular time, the country did not have an opposition party. In most cases where there is no opposition, there is nobody who is responsible enough to take care of the interest of the common mwananchi. The kind of scenario that we find ourselves in today after the handshake is a situation where most of the Members are so compromised to the extent that nobody wants to speak out firmly because they fear to upset the status quo. This applies to all Members whether they are from the Jubilee side or the NASA side. I want to ask my brother, Sen. Wetangula, to seize the moment and take it up as his responsibility to mobilise an opposition for this country. I have listened to the matters that are taking place in the National Assembly today, and the issue of taxation proposals being made touch on the wellbeing of the common mwananchi of this country. The Members have forgotten that they have a responsibility to protect the very vulnerable members of society. Most of them are now dancing to the tune of the people who are controlling Parliament through remote control. Madam Temporary Speaker, the first article in our Constitution, 2010 says that the sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and that sovereign power can only be exercised through democratically elected representatives. We are all seated here as Members of Parliament and have a serious duty of protecting the sovereignty of the people of Kenya. When I was a student of Public International Law, I learnt that for a state to be recognised as sovereign, there are certain ingredients that, that state must fulfil. It must have the power to make laws and have enforcement mechanisms. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}