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{
    "id": 936148,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/936148/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Even if we do not preside over budget proceedings of the country, this Committee must be on the frontline of speaking for the Judiciary. This is because in the absence of an independent and strong Judiciary, there is no country left. When the State is in conflict with its citizens, and when citizens are in conflict with each other, the refuge we go to is the Judiciary. We may not like the decisions they make, but they are there to arbitrate and resolve our disputes. An independent Judiciary is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. That is why at the end of the last elections, aggrieved as we were, we did not tell our supporters to get into the streets with stones and crude weapons. We went to the Judiciary and they made a decision. Two, the Committee should follow what the Senator for Kericho has said; the electoral system in this country. As we speak here, since 1993, the only time we went to elections and Kenyans did not lose life and property was in 2002/2003. Every election has had disputes that led to people losing lives, property and the country being divided even more. We need to fix our electoral system and the Committee must be on the frontline on this, so that when we go to elections the winners do not get foolishly exalted and the losers do not get foolishly vanquished. When we finish an election, we should know we have a country to keep and run. This Committee must do its work in this regard. Three and more importantly, the Committee must be on the frontline in guarding and protecting the integrity and authority of this institution, the Senate. We are now in a constitutional mood; what one of my friends calls the constitutional moment. This Committee should lead this House in propagating our views and ideas in the possibility of taking them to the next level in rewriting and redrafting our Constitution, so that it becomes a proper Upper House, with revision of each and every piece of legislation from the Lower House, as it is done in comparable jurisdictions. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is the only country in the world with a bicameral system where legislation from the ‘Upper House’ is subjected to a veto in the ‘Lower House.’ Everywhere in the world the House of veto and revision is the Senate. The appellate House is the Senate. We need to have this Committee, together with the galaxy of legal minds in this House, to lead the country in restoring the dignity of the Senate as a House that must be truly a House within a bicameral system. Lastly, I would like to encourage the Committee, that there are areas under their jurisdiction, that I did not hear the Chairperson mention. There is the office of the Ombudsman that is so critical in the administration of justice in the country. It is an office that is virtually dead. We do not hear of what the Ombudsman’s office is doing. This is an office that doubles both as a public defender and a crusader for justice for the downtrodden. We do not hear anything about this office. The only time I hear about the Ombudsman is when we see the Chairperson of the Ombudsman walking through Parliament corridors and reminding everybody that she was previously a Member of Parliament. We want to see the office of the Ombudsman working to protect Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a group of people from western Kenya bought land in Nandi County in 1979. They have lived there for 40 years. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}