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{
    "id": 843901,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/843901/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 196,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "We expect the governors, who were Senators before, to be the best champions for the role of the Senate in so far as working together as a team is concerned. In fact, I do not agree with Sen. Sakaja who says that there is no legal framework for us to engage in oversight. There is more than enough; we do not even need a law. What Sen. Dullo needs to do is to come up with a Petition, which will be directed to the Committee on Health or the relevant Committee. That Committee will then go to Isiolo or summon the governor to come here. We can direct it to the CPAIC, which will then summon the governor. He will not refuse because it is the law. He will first be invited and if he refuses he will be summoned. We have enough laws. We have public forums out there that allow us to engage with the citizens because representation is about going back to the citizens. We can have a baraza that involves all the county leadership and discuss a matter. We do not need any other law. What we need at the moment is to ensure that we use the institutional mechanism provided by the law. It is for us to test this mechanism and the Committees to take up these responsibilities. During last term we invited governors to this House and eventually summoned them. Some of them like Gov. Oparanya went to court but finally came here. Gov. Kabogo and the team refused, but finally came here. The former Gov. Isaac Ruto made a lot of noise out there but finally came here. This is about us using the institutional mechanism that we have here. We have the teeth to bite. In fact, there is nothing that stops us. Madam Temporary Speaker, when I was the Chairperson of the Committee on Devolved Government and Intergovernmental Relations, I used to summon county assemblies for things like those we saw yesterday. There is nothing that stops that Committee from inviting the County Assembly of Nairobi to shed light on that matter because it is our role; we oversight those counties. In fact, I ended up being involved in mediation for the county assembly and county executive in Isiolo in the last term. So, we have enough institutional and legal mechanism. It is for us, as a House, to use it and raise these issues. I urge Sen. Dullo not to be discouraged. If you remember, in the last term, everywhere we went people used to tell us that Senators are useless people who are just supposed to sit in Nairobi. They will still make those statements. The reason they are talking about you is because they can feel the pinch of what you are doing. If you were not doing anything, nobody will even refer to a Senator or the role of the Senate. The encouragement that comes with that is to continue pushing the boundaries, to ensure that we do what the citizens want us to do."
}