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{
    "id": 916969,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/916969/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 149,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Garissa Township, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Aden Duale",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Government appear before the Senate? I thank Hon. Matiang’i who sent an advisory seeking opinion from the Attorney General but he has not replied until today. Why should the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum go to the Senate to discuss the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC)? If you read the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, you will see that KPC is under the national Government. So, why should the Chair of the Committee on Energy invite Hon. Munyes? I think this House’s Departmental Committee on Energy must call the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and ask him under what constitutional jurisdiction he appeared before the Senate. If he does not have a good answer, that is a process for impeachment. When Prof. Magoha goes to the Senate, he can only answer Questions concerning ECD education. He should be very clear. If they call him for any other thing, we are telling him he must defy. We must tell these State and public officers that the Senate has no powers to impeach them. The Senate has no powers to remove them from office. Even if they indict or threaten them, the only House that has the powers, under the Constitution, to vet and remove State officers from office is the National Assembly. So, even if you are threatened as a Cabinet Secretary, they cannot remove you. Even if you want to remove the President or the Deputy President, the process must be initiated from this House. We must call a spade a spade. The framers of the Constitution had intention when they did that. Can you imagine how much allowances Kenyans pay to have every Senator as a chair or a vice-chair of a committee? I leave this to the Parliamentary Budget Office. The reality of the cost could bring tears to the eyes of every Kenyan. Finally, it is time we also set the record straight on the role of the Senate in terms of vetting State officers. The Constitution, in Article 132(2), says: “The President shall nominate and, with the approval of the National Assembly, appoint, and may dismiss…” So, the power to appoint or nominate lies with the President. The power to appoint and vet, as provided by Article 132(2), lies with the National Assembly. The Director-General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Principal Secretaries are constitutional office holders. So, I wonder. It is very clear and within the exclusive jurisdiction of this House. How did the Senate get to vet the Inspector-General of Police (IG)? The only reason was that there was a place written “Parliament”. They want to read the Constitution in a very selective way that, anywhere written “Parliament” means both Houses. We have no problem. When we were doing the mediation on the Report of the Land Index Bill and the Irrigation Bill, they changed anywhere written “Parliament” and they said we must write “National Assembly” and “Senate”. You vet the IG yet you have no powers to appropriate his money. You have no powers to oversee his functions and you have no powers to remove him from office. So, there is confusion. This baby has crawled for too long. We cannot feed this baby with milk forever. This baby must be told how to eat solid food, how to swallow, how to walk and walk within its boundaries. The baby cannot walk in the precincts of Parliament the way it wants. This baby must be secluded to its jurisdiction. If they have not gone to school, we need to take this baby to a school, not a baby class. You can take him even to university. I would go on and on. These are some of the issues this House must be guided about. The Constitution is very clear on our different roles and how the Senate has blindly followed on their mandate in terms of the Constitution. This must stop. I am saying this because you are aware that this Motion has nothing to do with this House. We are seeking to protect the gains that this House has achieved on behalf of the people of Kenya. The Senate says that we passed 17 Bills unconstitutionally. If the Senate makes good its threat and goes to court to challenge the laws that we have passed in this House, according to the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}