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{
    "id": 917097,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/917097/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 277,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I thought I was out of order. If you go to counties, many people will not tell you exactly what Senators do. There is also frustration within Government agencies, parastatals and departments. When a Cabinet Secretary is summoned to appear before similar committees in the Senate and the National Assembly and respond to the same matters, it is frustrating and a waste of taxpayers’ money. For example, we have a Committee on Energy in the Senate. What does it do? The Constitution, in the Fourth Schedule, only provides for reticulation of power for the counties. If the Constitution provides that the county shall only be able to do reticulation and issue licenses and permits for businesses within counties like opening a petrol station and other businesses, what does the Senate have to do with summoning officers of the Ministry of Energy or the head of parastatals like Kenya pipeline, Kenya oil Refinery Services, the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) and other agencies? That can be frustrating. It is high time this House and the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) looked into how many committees the Senate should have. If you appropriate money to various committees which duplicate functions of other committees, where are we going as a country? These are matters that we are hoping the House Business Committee (HBC) will look at together with the resolutions that the House will make today. The HBC should conduct public participation to get the input of the people. It should let them decide if we really need the Senate. In view of the desire that we want to reduce public expenditure, we can have the Senate abolished. With those few remarks, I support the Motion. 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."
}