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{
    "id": 917124,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/917124/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 304,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": "What was delivered at the Supreme Court during the 11th Parliament was not a judgement. It was an advisory opinion. I think it is important that we get it right. Secondly, if we allowed the appointment of the Attorney-General to be done through a joint committee, it can easily be challenged in the constitutional court and the Attorney-General can easily be declared as being unconstitutionally appointed into office. We have been doing some of these things to massage the egos of others, but they are not constitutional. We need to be clear in our minds. The immediate speaker has alluded to what I wanted to say. One of the things that informed us at Naivasha for us to create this Senate was the justified fears by some quarters that devolution would be killed the way it was killed back in 1963. It is for that reason that we said we should create the Senate so that we also deal with those fears. They were genuine fears because none of us could cushion the other or assure the other that it is not going to die. The Senate was then created, and there was nothing much it was doing. If I was the Speaker of the Senate, I assure you that I can create so much work for the Senate that is not contradictory to the roles that have been given to this National Assembly. However, there is lack of imagination of the amount of work that they can do. Members have alluded to it. Let me also say that devolution as it is in this country today is not being protected by the Senate, the Executive or by this National Assembly. The people who are protecting devolution are the people of this country. That is why we said, if you want to do anything on devolution, you must have a referendum so that Kenyans agree it being altered, increased or removed. As Members of the National Assembly, we are only a conveyor belt. The Senate is also just a conveyor belt. Kenyans have a final say on the nature and the form of devolution that we have in this country. It is also important that we note another very fundamental issue. In the Senate, none of those people who have been nominated have a vote. Any person nominated to the Senate will never vote for five years. You only walk around in these corridors, have a cup of tea and go and listen to what people say. You may be given an opportunity to persuade and debate, but you do not have a vote because you do not represent any person. You do not represent people because the Senate represents the institution of devolution. The House that represents people is the National Assembly. That is why the issue of budget-making has been left with the people’s representatives. You cannot take the budget-making process to an institution that represents other institutions. Saying that the Senate has a role in Budget-making is completely misplaced. It has no role! There is a saying that goes: “there is no taxation without representation”. How can you take issues of taxation to a House that does not represent the people? That is why matters of money, taxation, Budget-making and even allocation of resources will be done in the National Assembly. As the Chairman of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC), I recently walked to the office of the Chairman of the Council of Governors (COG), Governor Oparanya. We had a debate on this issue. I told him that the reason why governors seem to be lost and even losing money, perhaps because of the debate on inadequate allocation of resources, is because they have also not understood the law clearly. If I was a governor and was the Chairman of COG, I would engage the National Assembly directly. They are the ones who deal with allocation of resources. They are the ones who give ministries money. What do you go to tell the Senate? You are crying to people who are also crying. You are telling people to do things they have no mandate to do. They cannot influence the Budget-making process. Once we have agreed on the vertical sharing, they have the role to agree on the allocation to the different county 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."
}