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{
    "id": 916587,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/916587/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Looking at the petitions that wananchi bring to these Houses, one would expect that more petitions will be going to the National Assembly. However, the number of petitions wananchi bring to this Houses are more than five times higher than those that go to the National Assembly. This is because wananchi out there believe that this is the House of reason and justice. I agree with those who have spoken before me, and said that we should not descend to that level. We must stand by the law and the Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Statement made by the Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Budget, the distinguished Senator of Mandera County, represents our views in the Committee. I am a member of that Committee, where we discussed it and agreed. It is regrettable that somebody has caused the President to assent to the Appropriation Bill that has been passed unconstitutionally. Without the Division of Revenue Act (DORA), no other legislative process on financing and management of the budget can follow. It is very clear, yet the National Assembly has gone ahead and passed the Bill. I do not know what the advisers have done, but they should have told the President, “Let this impasse between the two Houses be sorted out first.” Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, now is the constitutional moment for this country. Members of this House, regardless of where we come from or our political affiliations, looking at comparable jurisdictions like Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom (UK), et cetera, the Senate is always the Upper House. It is the House of revision and an appellate structure for the National Assembly. I have been seeing Bills coming from the National Assembly, and sometimes you wonder whether much thinking was put in them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will remember, in the last Parliament, that the National Assembly even mischievously passed a law that intended and purported to exclude this House from making any approval of treaties, yet the Constitution says that all treaties signed by the Government must be approved by Parliament. Consequently, we had to come here to change the law to protect the interests of this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, because every success must come with sacrifices and pain, Members of this House, led by yourself, must stand up and be counted."
}