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{
    "id": 842999,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/842999/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
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    "content": "performing so well economically? Where did the ball drop between President Kibaki and President Uhuru? We must do self-examination and be magnanimous. Bill Clinton once said, if you live long enough, you will make mistakes but what is important is to learn from them so that you become a better person. If the President made a mistake by creating these offices called CAS, he should own up, be magnanimous, tell the people of Kenya, that, here I went wrong and sack them. Those offices are serving nothing other than just trying to please and massage egos of people who ran in elections and did not win and they need to be in some office somewhere and earn a salary. They are not the only people who have run in elections and lost. I was also a candidate in an election in 2013. I did not make it to this House but I did not require somebody to create an office for me. I retreated to do something else. They can sell mandazis, bananas and omena but not disturb the economics of this country just because they have to get jobs. That is not the way we will transform this country. That is a way of being retrogressive; taking this country back to the years we have come from. Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, the solution is not to start taxing poor Kenyans. I was in my county over the weekend. There are poor women who earn less than a dollar a day. They take motorcycles to cover a distance of about four kilometres to go to the market to sell their mbogas . They are now facing the wrath of this taxation because the boda boda riders are now increasing fares that these poor women pay. Madam Temporary Speaker, we cannot be a country that is cold hearted. We do not feel when we are subjecting our brothers, mothers and sisters to pain. This is the time that we expected parliamentarians to stand up and be counted. This is not the time for people to be called to some house to enjoy soup and chicken, and then come out and say, we have made a decision. Article 95(2) of the Constitution gives us a very clear mandate. It says that we shall deliberate on issues of concern for the Kenyan people and get solutions. The place to deliberate and find solutions should be on the Floor of the House. We must strive to ensure that Parliament remains independent. That is why we have three arms of Government. We have the Judiciary, for example. When the Judiciary has troubling cases that need them to take time before they make decisions, they retreat back and make decisions at the Judiciary. They never come here to consult Parliament or go to the Executive. So, this should be for Parliament. We do not need to look for solutions outside the Floor of this House. Often times, we do self- censorship and self-inflicted fear when there would be no consequences if you are independent and you stand on the side of the people of Kenya. In our neighbouring country of Uganda, there is a time President Museveni nominated a retired judge to serve as an interim Chief Justice. A courageous Member of Parliament filed a case before the constitutional court. The bench that sat to listen and make judgment on that matter ruled that the President was out of order. There was fear within the legal circles. Our colleagues told us that that was the end of the career of Prof. Lillian. However, President Museveni, in his address to the nation, said that he accepted the decision of the court because courts exist to adjudicate on disputes even if they are between the Executive and Parliament. 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."
}