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{
    "id": 970896,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/970896/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 78,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ng’ang’a Mbugua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I will actually take less time and yield a few minutes to my learned colleague, Mr. Njenga. Today, we gather before this august House to discharge a most noble and solemn task that only this Senate can undertake, which is the consideration of the proposed removal from office by way of impeachment of a popularly elected Governor of the second most populous county in this country. This task underlies the supremacy of this House. No other House in this country has the sovereign power to terminate the social contract between a governor and his people or even the President and his people. Being such a solemn duty, it calls for a lot of restrain and great circumspection. The tool of impeachment, correctly understood, should only be deployed as a measure of last resort and where it has been shown that all oversight mechanisms have either failed or are otherwise inadequate. It is a duty that this House has been called into action to undertake. Before it undertakes that duty, this Senate has an obligation to audit the entire process that was undertaken by the Assembly and satisfy itself that the process was proper, lawful and valid. This is particularly important because this Senate was not conceived to rubberstamp decisions and resolutions passed by the Assembly. Primarily, the Senate was conceived to protect counties and their governments. One of those protections is to protect elected governors who are the chief executive officers of those counties. It is important that this Senate protects governors from marauding assemblies who might seek to deploy impeachment tool for their own selfish motives. This House comprises noble men and women of great character and integrity and whom we believe will rise to the occasion, at the appropriate time, and make a determination on the facts, evidence and the law and find that the charges that will be presented before this Senate lacks any basis. There are some critical preliminary issues that my learned friend will advert to in his opening remarks and I do not wish to rehash those because Mr. Njenga will deal with those. This has to do with the question of whether the Governor was given opportunity to be heard before the Assembly, whether the Constitution and statutory timelines before the Assembly were complied with, whether there was public participation and whether the charges contravene the sub judice Standing Order of this honourable Senate. You have been told that we have not controverted the facts and the evidence. First, it is the Governors case that he was not given a chance to be heard by the Assembly. Therefore, the opportunity to controvert that evidence at that preliminary level was deprived hence it cannot lie in the mouth of the Assembly to say that the Governor has not controverted the charges, facts and the evidence. As relates to the documents that we have filed, we did file a notice of preliminary objection when we were served with the invitation to appear, but it was not possible 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."
}