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{
    "id": 961960,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/961960/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
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    "content": "President assented to it on 5th October, 2018. It is therefore baffling to say the least that the same National Assembly can argue that the Senate cannot originate a Division of Revenue Bill. Therein lies the challenge of argument without facts or arguments based on little or no knowledge. Hon. Senators, as you have observed, Order No.8 lists the Division of Revenue (No.2) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.59 of 2019) for Second Reading. The Bill was passed by the National Assembly on 25th July, 2019. On 31st July, 2019, the Senate received a Message from the National Assembly on the passage of the Division of Revenue (No.2) Bill (National Assembly Bills No.59 of 2019) and its referral to the Senate for concurrence. The Speaker of the Senate directed that the Bill be read a First Time the following day, just to show how committed this House is to what matters and what is right. The National Assembly Bill was indeed read a First Time on Thursday, 1st August, 2019, and referred to the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget. In compliance with the Constitution and the Standing Orders, the Committee undertook public participation on Tuesday, 6th August, 2019. Hon. Senators, we are at a critical constitutional moment that calls this House to rise above, as it has always done, and provide a clear and concise way forward on the division of revenue process. While the National Assembly may have, without any constitutional or legal justification withdrawn the Senate Bill, the Senate must nevertheless remain true to its calling under Article 3 to respect, uphold and defend the Constitution of our country. I therefore implore this House to rise above the external aberration and politics of brinkmanship that may be displayed by other quarters and proceed with the usual focus to discharge our mandate. Hon. Senators, it is for this reason that the leadership of the Senate, recognising the importance of the division of revenue process to the operations of both the national and county levels of government, resolved to prioritise the consideration of the Division of Revenue (No.2) Bill (National Assembly Bills No.59 of 2019) as evidenced in today’s Order Paper. Hon. Senators, I want to conclude by saying that what we are about to do is to affirm our position as the House of men and women of dignity and we do not want to be drawn into juvenile antics about nothing. We know we passed a legislation in this House but some of the Members of the National Assembly, whom I cannot discuss for obvious reasons, said very childish and immature things about this House and the process. I told myself that was a test and an act of provocation, to see how committed we are to the cause, challenge and job that we have been given by the people of Kenya. Colleagues. Whereas you may want to express yourselves on what our counterparts did and the acts of absurdity that have been committed against our process, I plead with you-- - The law and our Standing Orders are very clear on what should happen when one House of Parliament receives a Message from another House. Therefore, we have our pending issue of how our Message was treated. My plea is that we should not fall into the trap of saying because somebody behaved childishly, we should also behave childishly. I implore you that we treat this matter with the people of Kenya in mind and ignore what has happened. Those are things we can deal with in another forum because 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."
}