Tuesday, 18th October, 2022

Members, we are certain that we have quorum pursuant to Standing Order No.40.

Let us begin.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I wish to present this Petition regarding pubic transport in Lake Victoria between Mfangano Island in Suba Central Sub-County and Mbita.

“We, the undersigned citizens of the Republic of Kenya, on behalf of concerned stakeholders, shareholders and residents of Mfangano Island on Lake Victoria in Homa Bay County, draw the attention of the Senate of the Republic of Kenya to the following, pursuant to Article 35 and 119 of the Constitution of Kenya and Standing Order No. 235 of the Senate Standing Orders: -

That, maritime transport is an essential component of sustainable development in Kenya today. This has been and will continue to be a major backbone of the blue economy and a support system for fishermen and other business institutions within the lake region and more importantly the only transport medium for thousands of Kenyan citizens who live on Mfangano Island;

Noting, that there are a number of islands on Lake Victoria namely, Mfangano, Takawiri, Remba, Atego, Risi, and Ringiti, inhabited by over 30,000 people who purely depend on water transport inter-islands and the only way to connect to the mainland, and whom fishing is a source of income and support for livelihood;

That, the said islands on Lake Victoria have since time immemorial suffered from the lack of a public ferry to ensure safe and secure access of the islands and the mainland by the residents which has led to an increased cost of transportation of goods and services to and from the island thus affecting the cost of living in the island and the cost of doing business between the islands and the main land and more importantly, loss of lives in the use of unsafe water transport methods;

That, due to lack of a reliable public ferry, even the operations of the only private ferry that operated within the islands was suspended on 21st December 2021, almost one year ago, following non-compliance with Kenya Maritime Safety Regulations;

This has adversely and negatively affected movement between the islands and the main land leaving the residents and school going children to rely on other forms of transport including wooden boats which are not only insufficient to ferry high volume and heavy cargo from one island to another and to and from the main land but are also highly risky and dangerous to life and property;

That, the Government initiated a number of public projects on the said islands like construction of classrooms to promote Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and other public installations including Kenya Power off grid generators, which are unlikely to receive enough fuel, public schools that have experienced delayed acquisition of essential learning and non-learning facilities and materials;

That, a continuous lack of a reliable public ferry is adversely affecting development and growth of the said islands considering that they have a good potential to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country through blue economy, lake transport, tourism, cage fishing, livestock farming and other forms of business;

That, we the petitioners, wish to confirm that as per Standing Order No. 235 of the Senate, this matter is not pending in any court of law or any other constitutional or legal body;

That, the efforts to have this matter resolved urgently through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), though on going, has not yielded any immediate solutions;

Therefore, your humble petitioners pray that the Senate through the Committee on Transport and Infrastructure consider the following-

Thank you, Sen. M. Kajwang’. Hon. Senators, pursuant to Standing Order No. 237, I shall now allow comments, observations or clarifications in relation to the Petition for not more than 30 minutes.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this timely Petition. I know the area that Sen. M. Kajwang’ was referring to. I understand that people in that area have many challenges with transport, particularly the fishermen of that area.

I, therefore, call upon the relevant Committee to move with speed and process this Petition, so that a report can be tabled in this House and the relevant Ministry can deal with this issues that the Senator has highlighted.

I support.

Thank you. Let us have Sen. Cheruiyot.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. This is a very interesting Petition. I love that the Senator has decided to use the Floor of this House to send out a call to the Government on an issue that is extremely important to the people of Homa Bay County. It sounds to me as a well reasoned, fair plea by Kenyans who deserve to be served by their Government like any other Kenyans.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the petitioners have even gone deeper into the details and ensured that they are aware that there is a budgetary allocation for this purpose. They even know the vote upon which this money has been allocated. I suspect that they may even have a supplier ready.

Sen. M. Kajwang is my friend. I know that he is a very pragmatic citizen and he may have planned his citizens well. This is a very important Petition, which I believe should be addressed as fast as possible.

Finally, I would like to encourage my good friend, Sen. M. Kajwang. One of the favourite counties of the new President is Homa Bay. In fact, that is where he took his first prayer as President after being sworn in. Unfortunately, their good Senator did not find it fit to attend the function. He would have mentioned it to him if he was there and showed him the direction of Mfangano Island, to ensure that the good citizens of Homa Bay enjoy the services that this ferry can provide.

I support this Petition and hope that our Committee on Transport and Infrastructure can help expedite it, so that the good citizens of Homa Bay can live happily like the rest of the citizens in the country.

Thank you, Sen. Cheruiyot. Let us have Sen. (Dr.) Oburu. I am sure that he is interested in this Petition.

Thank you Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity. I also join my colleagues in supporting this Petition, which is very important for us coming from around Lake Victoria. My county is just few Kilometers from Senator M. Kajwang’s Constituency. We border the lake.

I would have wished that Sen. M. Kajwang included Luanda K’Otieno and Mageta Islands, which also border. This is because our people interact on a daily basis and transport is not for a constituency or a county. It is normally for interconnectivity between counties and for the whole country.

In the lake, there are many people who die because of the safety of the boats they use in crossing. It is high time that the Government intervened and introduced safe transport in the lakes, so that our people can stop dying. The deaths are not reported, but they occur on a daily basis. Sen. M. Kajwang’, I hope the Petitioners are from your area, which is why they only petitioned for those islands.

When the provisions are enacted, there should be ferries connecting Luanda K’Otieno and those other islands, so that our people can have safe transport and sail through. This is an important Petition.

I support

Sen. Maanzo, you may proceed.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this Petition. First and foremost, transport is about equity in the country, which is in the Constitution. What is happening in the Port of Mombasa or any other place with water mass happens to other citizens of this country in any part of the country.

For equity and there having been details as to the budget and the preparedness of the House having allocated monies to solve this problem, the Government should move with speed.

Even before our Committee proceeds to Homa Bay, this matter should have even been sorted because of the urgency it has, especially on the issue safety. Private entrepreneurs are the ones operating there, yet in Mombasa, the ferries there belong to the Government and give services for free to residents. There is no equity because it is a private entrepreneur and the people have to pay.

It is very important that these ferry services are offered to Kenyans in Homa Bay, so that they can enjoy the privileges other Kenyans in all other parts of the country are enjoying.

I heard Sen. Faki say that I do not have a water mass in Makueni. I want to inform him that I am preparing Thwake Dam in Makueni, which is going to be the biggest dam in East and Central Africa. I will, therefore, also need ferries to be connecting Makueni and Kitui Counties.

Thank you Sen. Maanzo. We will see how that will work out for you when you connect the two counties. Let us have Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale give comments.

Madam Temporary Speaker, it is a pity today in Kenya that it looks like the Kenya Ferry Services was created for Likoni. In fact, the people of Homa Bay and Kenyans should know that there are only several ferries in Kenya: The Nyayo, MV. Harambee, Kilindini and Kwale, all operating in Likoni.

On a point of information. Madam Temporary Speaker.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, do wish to be informed by Sen. Faki?

Sen. Faki, would you like to inform me? Most welcome, Sir.

Sen. Faki, you may proceed.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to inform my brother, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, who resided in Mombasa for a long time. Firstly, we are grateful for his services to Port Reitz District Hospital then. However, at the moment, there are about seven ferries which operate across the Likoni Channel. Even in Mtongwe, they have started the service.

Unfortunately, after the incident, which occurred in the year 2020, where the lady, Mariam, drowned with her daughter, the Kenya Ferry Services was transferred to Kenya Ports Authority. So, there is no longer Kenya Ferry Services. It is now a department of Kenya Ports Authority.

Thank you for the information. However, when you are informing me, you should advance my frontier of knowledge. I have started by giving you the actual ferries. I have told you that there is Harambee Ferry, Nyayo, Kilindini, Likoni and the fifth one is called Kwale.

You should have just told me the two additional ones, so that I know that you are adding knowledge to what I had said. Otherwise, thank you for acknowledging---

For this reason, it is wrong that the Government has not seen the importance of using ferries. Ferries are important for transportation. In fact, as we cry for the people of Mfangano Islands, why are we not making economic capital out of water transport? The entire island of Mombasa, Mfangano Island and the other attendant Islands in Lake Victoria can actually thrive on ferries as a mode of transport. In fact, it is faster to move from the Islands to come to Siaya using ferries than to go round to Kisumu until you come by road.

I, therefore, support this Petition for good reason, and for historical reasons. The Abaluhya people who live in Mfangano Island, the small house of the Luhya House called the Abasuba have been marginalized in that area. When people address issues of the Abasuba, they do not realize that they exist as an independent Luhya House.

I, therefore, congratulate Sen. M. Kajwang,’ who is a fellow Luhya from Abasuba House, for coming up with this Petition.

What is your point of order, Sen. M. Kajwang’?

It is a point of information to Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, do you wish to be informed?

Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the good Senator has talked about the roots of the Abasuba. I am a proud Abasuba. However, I just wanted to tell Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale that there is the river and the source. The source of the Abasuba could not have been the Abaluhya. The source of the Abaluhya could have been the Abasuba. So, he needs to distinguish the river and the source.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, the Abasuba who live on Mfangano and Rusinga Islands and the areas called Kaksingri were members of the royal household of the Baganda, who were purged when Kabaka Semakokiro led an uprising that led to the death of Kabaka Junju. They cut off his testicles.

As a result, they were flushed out of the Kabaka Kingdom and came to the Islands. Therefore, we, the Abasuba, are part of the royal household of the Baganda Kingdom.

I challenge the good Senator to a DNA test at the community level.

I thank the Senator and the petitioners because they have now acknowledged the new thing in town, which is, the bottom-up policy of developing Kenya. This is classical bottom-up. We want you to embrace that at the economic level and politically too. Politically because some of the things I see happening on the Minority Side is because of lack of democracy in the political thinking of that area. You have pinned your thinking around a prominent personality.

If it was not the case, my good brother-in-law, Sen. Omogeni, would not have been trending the way he was last week, when---

Point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Sen. Olekina, what is your point of order?

Madam Temporary Speaker, you have reiterated on the importance of relevance while contributing to debates. Is the Senate Majority Whip in order to deviate from discussing a very important matter about the transportation of Kenyans, who are being denied that service? He is now discussing the content of a party leader and suggesting lack of democracy on this side of the isle?

I wish that you would find him completely out of order and direct him to either withdraw and apologise; or substantiate the allegations that he is making.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, do you have a response to that?

Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker. The good Senator for Narok County, if you had seen the nexus, I started by stating the importance in the economy of the people who are served by the ferry. Surely, those ferries are going to carry goods and people to social functions. That improves the economy of the people.

How I have now veered away from the Motion, I do not see. However, if it pleases you that I have mentioned a party leader, please recall that on the HANSARD. I

have not mentioned any particular political party, coalition or leader. I spoke as a standard of language. Bear with me, Sen. Olekina.

I support this very important Petition and hope that it will be processed quickly through the Committee. As the Chief Whip in this House, I guarantee the Abasuba that I will help in mobilising Members of Parliament (MPs), so that this Petition can move quickly.

May I request Members of the National Assembly to expedite in ensuring that Hon. Alice Wahome becomes the substantive Cabinet Secretary (CS). This is so that this Petition can be referred to her Ministry for action and eventual unlocking by His Excellency President William Samoei Ruto.

Thank you, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale.

Sen. Olekina, your point of order was noted. Just allow the robustness of the debate. Unless it has completely veered off, allow the wider perspective.

Sen. Sifuna, please, make your contribution.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to support this Petition. I have been privileged to visit the islands that my brother, Sen. M. Kajwang’, has spoken about on multiple occasions. The first time, I was accompanied by Sen. Wakili Sigei, the Senator for Bomet County. He can bear me witness that this is one of the most beautiful places you can ever visit in our country.

In fact, I have had a discussion with the Nairobi City County delegation; my sisters, Sen. Tabitha Mutinda and Sen. Nyamu, that when we retreat to discuss matters of Nairobi City County, we will go to these beautiful islands. It is the only place in this country where you can see the sun setting on water. For those of us who are hopeless romantics – I can see Sen. Lelegwe cannot relate – we know the value of a sunset in the eyes of lass when you are advancing your case.

of a Member of Parliament? There is simply no way for you to get that vehicle to your village.

We stand with the people of the islands. It is the most beautiful place as my senior, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, has alluded to. Those of us who come from that side of the country sometimes feel that there are Government services that are not applicable or available for us. We have not felt the weight of the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife in Western Kenya. There are beautiful places there that are never marketed by this Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) that I hear about. Mt. Elgon has caves and elephants, but we do not see the same level of marketing that we see in other places that have tourism activities.

Madam Temporary Speaker, if this Petition is allowed to succeed, I personally have seen the difference that it will make. If you are left at the hands of private ferry operators, then you know they are exposed to the ravages of the economy. These people are free to set the prices of these goods, yet they are an essential good that is a lifeline to the people of these islands.

I assure my friend, the Senator for Homa Bay County, that he has a friend in the Senator for Nairobi City County and its entire delegation. I want Sen. Tabitha Mutinda not to leave this House without having seen the sunset on Lake Victoria from Governor’s Camp on Mfangano Island.

Thank you, Senator. Hon. Senators, since this is a Petition, the observations and comments should be brief. We have only 10 minutes or maybe even eight minutes now. I request all the Senators who will speak to take at least two minutes. We will have about five Senators before we close this matter.

Sen. Olekina, you have the Floor.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I will go straight to the importance of ferry services. I rise to support this Petition by the good Senator for Homa Bay County. When we are in this House, we try to make sure that we support each county to generate own source revenue and deliver services better to the people.

Ordinarily, when petitions are brought to this House, the Committee concerned carries out an investigation and reports its findings to the House. The report is also given to the petitioner, so that they can follow through.

I beseech the Senate Standing Committee on Roads and Transport to move further and call the Maritime Authority (MA) to a discussion. The people and Homa Bay County Government should also be included, so that they get details on the importance of these islands.

We talk about the blue economy but seldom do we now move forward. I hope that when we are investigating this Petition, we can move forward and pronounce ourselves as the Senate. I beseech the Chairperson of Senate Committee on Roads and Transport to introduce a Motion, so that we see a tangible outcome.

Ordinarily, we call people here and grill them, but what is the outcome or take home? Even if a project is through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) , just like the Nairobi Expressway, that can also help the people of Homa Bay.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I support and call upon the Committee on Roads and Transportation to seriously consider moving a Motion for this Senate to pronounce itself on what needs to happen in order to build a blue economy.

Senator for Kilifi, Sen.

Sen. Madzayo, you have 20 seconds.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Madzayo) : Bi. Spika wa Muda, kwa kumalizia, ningependa kuhimiza wafanye haraka kwa sababu kuna wagonjwa, wafanyabiashara na watu tofauti tofauti wanaohitaji huduma za feri. Nasisitiza kuwa Serikali inafaa kuchukua hatua mwafaka haraka iwezekanavyo.

We will now have Sen. Mungatana, MGH.

Bi. Spika wa Muda, kwa kumalizia, ningependa kuhimiza wafanye haraka kwa sababu kuna wagonjwa, wafanyabiashara na watu tofauti tofauti wanaohitaji huduma za feri. Nasisitiza kuwa Serikali inafaa kuchukua hatua mwafaka haraka iwezekanavyo.

We will now have Sen. Mungatana, MGH.

viable, so that as ferries continue to operate, they do not become a source of grief for all of us.

I thank you.

viable, so that as ferries continue to operate, they do not become a source of grief for all of us.

I thank you.

It seems to be a personalised invitation for the Senator to visit the islands.

Sen. Faki, please, proceed.

It seems to be a personalised invitation for the Senator to visit the islands.

Sen. Faki, please, proceed.

Bi. Spika wa Muda, Katiba inasema kwamba feri na bandari ni jukumu la Serikali za kaunti. Kwa hivyo, iwapo hizo fedha ambazo zinawekwa katika feri zitaweza kuregeshwa katika zile kaunti zinazo pahali ambapo wanaweza kuegesha vyombo, itasidia pakubwa kurahisisha usafiri.

Jambo lingine ambalo tumeona ni kwamba, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) ambayo inafaa kuangalie maswala haya---

Bi. Spika wa Muda, Katiba inasema kwamba feri na bandari ni jukumu la Serikali za kaunti. Kwa hivyo, iwapo hizo fedha ambazo zinawekwa katika feri zitaweza kuregeshwa katika zile kaunti zinazo pahali ambapo wanaweza kuegesha vyombo, itasidia pakubwa kurahisisha usafiri.

Jambo lingine ambalo tumeona ni kwamba, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) ambayo inafaa kuangalie maswala haya---

Sen. Faki, please, wind up your comments in ten seconds.

Asante, Bi. Spika wa Muda. Kenya Maritime Authority haijafanya jambo lolote kuhusu maswala haya. Ni Mombasa pekee yake ndipo wameweza kukaa na mpaka sasa hawajaenda pahali pengine popote kufanya huduma kama hizo. Ukiangalia mambo---

Thank you, Sen. Faki. We are winding up comments on the Petition. I will only allow brief comments from Sen. Chimera and Sen. Oyomo.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity. I rise to support the Petition by Sen. M. Kajwang,’ the Senator for Homa Bay County. This is a crucial Petition.

It is worth noting that some of us come from areas where we use ferries on a daily basis. We also have areas in Kwale County, specifically Funzi Island, Mukwiro and Wasini, where it is risky to cross without the ferry.

I urge the Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing to cast their net wide when investigating this situation. I believe that this service will not only empower the people of Homa Bay, but also empower the people of Funzi, Wasini and Mukwiro. It should help our people access transport services and conduct their businesses in time, effectively and efficiently.

I support this Petition. Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to support the Petition by my Senator. If you ever get yourself at the shores of Lake Victoria, you will witness how our people travel to Mfangano Island and it brings a lot of misery. Each morning, they travel across the lake without proper ferry services. They are never sure of reaching their destination. Our people travel in undignified ways.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the transportation mode not only touches on the safety of the people that use the lake, but also their dignity. The boats that they use carry everything at the beginning of the journey. In those boats, you will find cows and building materials among other things. You can only imagine what will happen if something goes wrong.

I support this Petition. Thank you.

In terms of Standing Order No.238(2), the Committee is required in not more than 60 calendar days from the time of reading this Prayer, to respond to the Petitioner by way of a report addressed to the Petitioner and laid on the Table of the Senate.

Thank you. (The Petition was committed to the Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing)

In terms of Standing Order No.238(2), the Committee is required in not more than 60 calendar days from the time of reading this Prayer, to respond to the Petitioner by way of a report addressed to the Petitioner and laid on the Table of the Senate.

Thank you. (The Petition was committed to the Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing)

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirandich Water Company Ltd for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirinyaga County Assembly Mortgage (Members) Scheme Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirinyaga County Assembly Car Loan (Members) Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirinyaga County Facility Improvement Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirinyaga County Alcoholics Drinks & Substance Abuse Control Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirinyaga County Health Sector Service Fund (H.S.S.F) for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statement of Kirinyaga County Education Bursary Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kirinyaga Water and Sanitation Company Ltd for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Rukanga Water and Sanitation Company Ltd for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kisii County Veterinary Services Development Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Executive Committee Members’ Car Loan and Mortgage Scheme Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Assembly (Members) Car Loan Mortgage Scheme for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Assembly (Staff) Car Loan and Mortgage Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Assembly for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Civil Servants’ Car Loan & Mortgage Scheme Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua Water and Sanitation Company Ltd for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Bursary Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Nyandarua County Emergency Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Olkalou Water and Sanitation Company Ltd for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

Report of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of Kajiado County Executive for the year ended 30th June, 2021.

(Sen. Orwoba crossed the Floor of the House without bowing to the Chair)

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Sen. Wambua, what is your point of order?

Proceed, Senate Majority Whip.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I am happy that you have forgiven Sen. Orwoba. If it actually comforts you, she got confused by my melodious voice. That is why she forgot.

Hon. Senators, before we proceed to the next Order, I have the following Message to communicate.

Hon. Senators, Pursuant to Standing Order No.47 of the Senate Standing Orders, I wish to convey a message from His Excellency the President. The Message was delivered to the Office of the Speaker via a letter referenced OP/CAB.26/4A VOL.I/ (46) , dated 29th September, 2022, and received in the Office of the Speaker of the Senate on 18th October, 2022, regarding Parliamentary approval of the nominee for the appointment as Inspector-General of the National Police Service.

In the Message, His Excellency the President conveys that: - “In exercise of powers conferred by Article 245 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Kenya, I William Samoei Ruto, President and Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, nominates Eng. Japhet Koome Nchembere for appointment as Inspector- General of the National Police Service.”

Hon. Senators, Article 245 (2) (a) provides that the Inspector General is appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament. Further, Section 12 (2) and 7 of the National Police Service Act, No. 11 of 2011 states as follows: -

“The president shall within 14 days after vacancy occurs in the Office of Inspector-General, nominate a person for appointment as an Inspector-General and submit the name of the nominee to Parliament.” Section 12 (7)

Parliament shall within 14 days when it first meets after receiving the names of the nominees: -

Hon. Senators, Pursuant to Standing Order No.47 of the Senate Standing Orders, I wish to convey a message from His Excellency the President. The Message was delivered to the Office of the Speaker via a letter referenced OP/CAB.26/4A VOL.I/ (46) , dated 29th September, 2022, and received in the Office of the Speaker of the Senate on 18th October, 2022, regarding Parliamentary approval of the nominee for the appointment as Inspector-General of the National Police Service.

In the Message, His Excellency the President conveys that: - “In exercise of powers conferred by Article 245 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Kenya, I William Samoei Ruto, President and Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, nominates Eng. Japhet Koome Nchembere for appointment as Inspector- General of the National Police Service.”

Hon. Senators, Article 245 (2) (a) provides that the Inspector General is appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament. Further, Section 12 (2) and 7 of the National Police Service Act, No. 11 of 2011 states as follows: -

“The president shall within 14 days after vacancy occurs in the Office of Inspector-General, nominate a person for appointment as an Inspector-General and submit the name of the nominee to Parliament.” Section 12 (7)

Parliament shall within 14 days when it first meets after receiving the names of the nominees: -

ACKNOWLEDGING that the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is established under Article 9 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (EAC) as one of the key organs and institutions of the Community responsible for the Community’s legislative matters; RECOGNIZING that Article 50 of the Treaty provides for the election of Members of EALA by respective partner States’ Legislatures in accordance with their parliamentary procedures for a term of five years; FURTHER aware that the East African Legislative Assembly Elections Act, 2011 contemplates conclusion of the election of Members of a new Assembly to be within ninety (90) days before the expiry of the term of the subsisting Assembly; NOTING THAT, the term of the current East African Legislative Assembly will come to an end on 17th December, 2022; COGNIZANT of the need to urgently conclude the election process for the East African Legislative Assembly to commence transacting business of the EAC; NOW THEREFORE, in accordance with the provisions of Rule 9 of the Houses of Parliament (Joint Sittings) Rules, the Senate resolves –

Let me first invite Sen. Wambua who had an urgent Statement on security issue, to read his Statement before we proceed with the rest.

Let me first invite Sen. Wambua who had an urgent Statement on security issue, to read his Statement before we proceed with the rest.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for indulging me and giving me an opportunity to seek this Statement on matters security.

I rise pursuant to Standing Order No. 53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations regarding the heightened insecurity situation in Mutha Ward, Kitui County.

In the Statement, the Committee should –

Sen. Wambua, do you want to be informed?

Sen. Wambua, do you want to be informed?

Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker. The Temporary Speaker (

Asante sana, Bi. Spika wa Muda kwa kunipa fursa hii. Mambo ya usalama na ufugaji yamekuwa yakiandamana. Ni vuzuri ijulikane wazi kuwa kazi kuu ya Serikali ni kulinda maisha na mali ya wananchi.

Jambo ambalo limekuwa likitendeka katika Kaunti ya Laikipia ni kuwa wafugaji wanalisha wanyama wao kwenye mashamba ya watu, na kusema kuwa wanawalisha nyasi sio mchanga. Mchanga ni yako lakini mimea ni ya wanyama.

Ni vizuri ijulikane kuwa mashamba yana wenyewe. Hakuna mtu anayesema kuwa mfugaji hafai kuwa na mifugo yake. Anafaa kufuga mifugo inayoweza kutoshelezwa na shamba lake. Mkulima pia ana haki yake, kwa sababu anategemea mimea ile. Wewe unayetegemea mifugo, iweke mahali inapotoshea. Tunafaa kuheshimiana. Mkulima na mimea, na mfugaji na mifugo yake,

Kenya ni yetu sote tunafaa kuishi kama kitu kimoja. Mimea haipandwi kwa shamba la mfugaji. Naunga mkono Taarifa iliyoletwa na Sen. Wambua, ya kwamba wale ngamia wachungwe katika mashamba yao. Wafugaji wapewe haki yao kikatiba na kisheria kwa kuwa wanaishi katika nchi hii yetu.

Senators, this being an

Sen. Kinyua, Proceed.

I had made a ruling that two people would contribute to that Statement. We have very many Statements today, unless we do not want to receive some of them.

Okay, that is noted. I will give you a chance, but you have to wait until I have finished what I am reading out. We are committing this matter to the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations to issue a Statement on the Insecurity Situation in Mutha Ward, Kitui County.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Madzayo) : On a point of Order, Madam, Temporary Speaker.

Okay, Proceed Senate Minority Leader.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Madzayo) : Bi Spika wa Muda, katika Mjadala unaoletwa katika hili Bunge, singependa kukueleza utakavyofanya. Najua kazi unafanya kisawasawa lakini haki na utendaji kazi lazima uende pamoja. Upande huu una haki ya kuchangia.

Nashangaa kuwa unaelekeza pande moja waongee na upande huu huapewi nafasi. Sitaki kukosoa uamuzi uliofanya, lakini kwa wakati mwingine tukipata fursa kama hiyo ingekuwa bora utoe nafasi upande huu ili usikize maoni yao sawasawa. Isiwe kuegemea upande mmoja na kuwacha mwingine.

I had made a ruling that two people would contribute to that Statement. We have very many Statements today, unless we do not want to receive some of them. (An hon. Senator spoke off record) Okay, that is noted. I will give you a chance, but you have to wait until I have finished what I am reading out. We are committing this matter to the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations to issue a Statement on the Insecurity Situation in Mutha Ward, Kitui County. The Senate Minority Leader (

On a point of Order, Madam, Temporary Speaker.

Okay, Proceed Senate Minority Leader. The Senate Minority Leader (

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise, pursuant to Standing Order 52 (1) , to make a Statement on a matter of inter-county importance and general topical concern, namely, concerns over the plan by Safaricom PLC, to block SIM Cards that would not have been Re-registered by Saturday, 15th October, 2022.

There are millions of Kenyans in need of humanitarian aid, especially in the Northern counties and other Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) areas of Kenya, where the populace is faced by the debilitating effects of severe drought.

It is appreciated that many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have stepped in to offer the much-needed support during this time. These humanitarian organizations reached at least 598,100 people in the ASAL region, with life-saving and life-sustaining assistance between October, 2021 and May 2022, including 534,000 in 2022 alone.

This support, aimed at mitigating the effects of the drought, includes water trucking, provision of human and animal feeds to protect livelihoods, health services and, most importantly, cash transfers to thousands of beneficiaries across the more than 20 drought-stricken counties. Needless to say, these cash transfers run into billions of Kenya Shillings.

I am not in contention of the fact that SIM cards must be registered to prevent crime, fraud and other such malpractices. I am also aware that the need to re-register the SIM cards is a compliance requirement in accordance with the Kenya Information and Communication Act.

However, Safaricom needs to take cognizance of the special circumstances of most of the people in the ASAL areas. All these cash transfer beneficiaries, mostly pastoralists, receive this support through Mpesa. They live far from places where they can promptly update their registration details. Further, not only is the network hard to access in these areas, but it is also quite erratic.

Madam Temporary Speaker, illiteracy is another confounding problem. It is my opinion that disconnecting these beneficiaries in the midst of humanitarian crisis brought about by the drought situation amounts to a violation of their rights. I, therefore, appeal to the Senate to prevail upon Safaricom and other telecommunication service providers to defer the deadline.

They could also consider having mobile registration centres for pastoralists especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) areas, in order to ensure compliance.

Bi Spika wa Muda, katika Mjadala unaoletwa katika hili Bunge, singependa kukueleza utakavyofanya. Najua kazi unafanya kisawasawa lakini haki na utendaji kazi lazima uende pamoja. Upande huu una haki ya kuchangia. Nashangaa kuwa unaelekeza pande moja waongee na upande huu huapewi nafasi. Sitaki kukosoa uamuzi uliofanya, lakini kwa wakati mwingine tukipata fursa kama hiyo ingekuwa bora utoe nafasi upande huu ili usikize maoni yao sawasawa. Isiwe kuegemea upande mmoja na kuwacha mwingine.

This way, humanitarian aid will not be disrupted by the action of disconnecting these customers.

I will exercise my discretion. I assure both sides of the House that the Speaker is allowing everybody to contribute to the Motion. The Statement came from the Minority side, but to give further assurance, I will give one more person a chance to comment on it. Let us have one.

consulted with the Clerk-at-the-Table)

Madam Temporary Speaker, just to confirm something although I am not certain; I thought I saw a communication from the Communications Authority (CA) of Kenya, that they have extended the deadline for this registration by a further 60 days.

With your guidance, perhaps Sen. Abdul Haji could let us know if this has been done. If so, we may not need to dwell too much on this.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise, pursuant to Standing Order 52 (1) , to make a Statement on a matter of inter-county importance and general topical concern, namely, concerns over the plan by Safaricom PLC, to block SIM Cards that would not have been Re-registered by Saturday, 15th October, 2022.

There are millions of Kenyans in need of humanitarian aid, especially in the Northern counties and other Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) areas of Kenya, where the populace is faced by the debilitating effects of severe drought.

It is appreciated that many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have stepped in to offer the much-needed support during this time. These humanitarian organizations reached at least 598,100 people in the ASAL region, with life-saving and life-sustaining assistance between October, 2021 and May 2022, including 534,000 in 2022 alone.

This support, aimed at mitigating the effects of the drought, includes water trucking, provision of human and animal feeds to protect livelihoods, health services and, most importantly, cash transfers to thousands of beneficiaries across the more than 20 drought-stricken counties. Needless to say, these cash transfers run into billions of Kenya Shillings.

I am not in contention of the fact that SIM cards must be registered to prevent crime, fraud and other such malpractices. I am also aware that the need to re-register the SIM cards is a compliance requirement in accordance with the Kenya Information and Communication Act.

However, Safaricom needs to take cognizance of the special circumstances of most of the people in the ASAL areas. All these cash transfer beneficiaries, mostly pastoralists, receive this support through Mpesa. They live far from places where they can promptly update their registration details. Further, not only is the network hard to access in these areas, but it is also quite erratic.

Madam Temporary Speaker, illiteracy is another confounding problem. It is my opinion that disconnecting these beneficiaries in the midst of humanitarian crisis brought about by the drought situation amounts to a violation of their rights. I, therefore, appeal to the Senate to prevail upon Safaricom and other telecommunication service providers to defer the deadline.

They could also consider having mobile registration centres for pastoralists especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) areas, in order to ensure compliance.

This way, humanitarian aid will not be disrupted by the action of disconnecting these customers.

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

What is your point of order, Sen, Cheruiyot?

Madam Temporary Speaker, just to confirm something although I am not certain; I thought I saw a communication from the Communications Authority (CA) of Kenya, that they have extended the deadline for this registration by a further 60 days.

With your guidance, perhaps Sen. Abdul Haji could let us know if this has been done. If so, we may not need to dwell too much on this.

Before I respond to that, I request, let me allow four Senators to comment because it is a serious issue. Two Senators from the Minority side and two Senators from the Majority side.

Sen. Osotsi, proceed.

Madam Temporary Speaker, this issue is of major concern. The CA may have been justified in trying to get the SIM details of all the subscribers, however, the process undertaken by Safaricom in trying to get this data is unlawful.

We passed the Data Protection Act in the National Assembly and established the Data Commissioners Office, which later came up with regulations. Safaricom has violated the internationally recognised data protection principles, which require that when you pick data from a data subject, you must get proper consent before you pick that data.

Whereas I appreciate that Safaricom came up with an online form and even sent messages to subscribers with a link, that link was not functional. Hence, more subscribers went to their outlets to give their information. Subscribers gave their ID details without filling any form at all. This is against the law, the Regulations and the international best practice on data protection.

They say that data is the modern oil and it is expensive. We have allowed citizens to give their private national registration data to a private company and we do not know what these data is going to do. There was no consent at all. The consent is supposed to clearly state the usage of that data but that was not done.

On that basis, Safaricom has violated the Data Protection Law. I am sure Information and Technology (IT) experts in this room will agree with me that this process was unlawful. It does not matter that it is necessary to get this data for other purposes like security; but they needed to state that purpose. It is because today, if you allow a private company to get data, that is one way of promoting state capture. You do not know what that data will be used for.

I know it is the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) that will deal with this. They need to look at issues of violation of the Data

Sen. Cherarkey, while that was a good contribution, I doubt if it was a point of order.

I will allow Sen. Orwoba to wind up her contribution in 10 seconds then we proceed to the third person.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to wind up by stating that the process of re-registration does not exist because it is not in any legal framework nor the Information and Communications Act of 2015, or any other Act.

Just to sensitize the House, a lot of data mining is happening. I was talking about photographs, where when you want to track a person, you can, for example, get Veronica Maina. With additional information like photographs, I can see the people holding phones and how they look like. It gives away information that should be protected and that infringes on one’s privacy.

Regarding data protection, which I know we will discuss on a later date, Safaricom and Airtel together with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) are infringing on the rights of people and they should be stopped. Re-registration, which is illegal, should be halted and the service providers sued because they have already breached on our privacy and they should---

Thank you Sen. Orwoba. Sen. Olekina, kindly proceed.

Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the things I have noted is that we are partial in prosecuting this matter. This is a matter that cuts across all the telecommunications service providers, including Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom and any other company. We should be impartial because when we keep on prosecuting one company, we are being unfair to them.

I would like us to note that we have the CA. I am aware that they have extended the period for SIM card registration. What the committee ought to further investigate is why we have a problem of pre-registration.

When we were considering the Data Protection Act---

On a point of information.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I will be more than happy to be informed. So that I do not interfere---

Do you want to be informed?

Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Thank you Sen. Orwoba. Sen. Olekina, kindly proceed.

Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the things I have noted is that we are partial in prosecuting this matter. This is a matter that cuts across all the telecommunications service providers, including Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom and any other company. We should be impartial because when we keep on prosecuting one company, we are being unfair to them.

I would like us to note that we have the CA. I am aware that they have extended the period for SIM card registration. What the committee ought to further investigate is why we have a problem of pre-registration.

When we were considering the Data Protection Act---

On a point of information.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I will be more than happy to be informed. So that I do not interfere---

Do you want to be informed?

Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Very quickly, Sen. Orwoba.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to inform Sen. Olekina that we are referencing Safaricom and Airtel because the list of registered processors and controllers of data is limited to those in the list. It is only Safaricom and Airtel that are switching off the lines and that is the reason I referenced the two. It has nothing to do with victimization. Have a look at the list.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I am aware of that. That was not information but it is okay because the Senator is among those who have contributed on the matter. Speaking after her, I was not referring directly to her sentiments.

To conclude, this matter is provided for under Article 31 (c) and (d) of the Constitution of Kenya. One of the things the committee ought to relook at is whether what we are discussing forms part of what was declared unconstitutional in the Data Protection Act by the Judiciary.

I support the Statement by Sen. Haji. However, I request the committee that will investigate this matter to be impartial when calling witnesses. We need to ask ourselves tough questions such as; is Parliament also responsible for these problems? The CA is acting under instructions from this Parliament.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the law is quite clear. It requires that information is protected. If the telecommunication companies are violating the law, it should be made clear. The business of targeting one multinational corporation should be stopped.

I thank you.

I rise under Standing Order No.52 (1) to make a Statement about the concluded World Sight Day held on 13th October, 2022.

Madam Temporary Speaker, everyone in the blind and visually impaired community knows that October is an important month because it is blindness awareness month. World over, people have been celebrating and creating sensitization activities around loving your eyes, which is this year’s hashtag for blindness awareness month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 2.2 billion people around the world who suffer from some kind of visual impairment and 1 billion of those live in Low Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) , Kenya being one of them.

Of those 2.2 billion as well, one billion are preventable issues. This means that if they were addressed earlier enough, then they could have been prevented or reversed.

The visual impairment and blindness issue is important for me to bring it before the House this afternoon because it affects several spheres of one’s life. It affects education, employment, social activities and integration in the community.

Madam Temporary Speaker, at this juncture, I would like to tell you about a personal story of mine. The reason as to why I am so passionate about eye care is because I was not born with the disability.

I was born with my full sight and I started to notice my eyesight declining when I was 14 or 15 years old in high school. This means that I acquired my disability. Reasons such as affordability, lack of awareness and sensitization, lack of prioritizing by Government and the Ministry of Health on eye care and the importance of eye care, are why I unfortunately began to lose my eye sight and I realized it at an earlier stage.

Madam Temporary Speaker, it affected my entire life and absolutely turned it upside down. There are millions of people in Kenya, approximately eight million, that as we speak, need quality eye care. That is, 15.5 per cent of our population. Unfortunately, this is compounded with the lack of ophthalmologists around the country. It is important to note that 58 per cent of the ophthalmologists are in Nairobi City County. This means

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would have expected the Senate Minority Leader to know what is happening in the House.

I have two quick points. First, just like any other Kenyan, on Sunday morning when most of us have morning glory prayers being a prayerful nation, Safaricom decided to switch off many SIM cards. I agree that we need to summon the Data Protection Commissioner and the CA.

Like my colleagues have said, data is critical. This matter is critical, hence the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology should come out strongly and ensure it is put to rest.

Lastly, in as much as the nominee for the position of Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, Prof. Kithure Kindiki, who was our former colleague, has indicated that some of the information is for the interest of the country and we appreciate that, it is important that we do it within the law. People might want to sell data and that could be a national threat.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology must be seized of this matter and report to the House, so that Kenyans are

comfortable. A number of salonists and other Kenyans who operate at mundane hours were not accessible. Therefore, this matter should be handled carefully and concluded like I requested under Standing Order No.52(3).

I thank you.

This is an important matter affecting all Kenyans. The mood of the House is that it should be committed to the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology.

Under Standing Order No.52 (3) , I hereby commit the matter to the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology and they should bring a report to this House.

Sen. Crystal Asige, proceed with the next Statement.

Madam Temporary Speaker, before I do that, I am proud and privileged to stand in front of a Madam Speaker today. You sitting in that Chair is not a small thing. I feel inspired today.

I rise under Standing Order No.52 (1) to make a Statement about the concluded World Sight Day held on 13th October, 2022.

Madam Temporary Speaker, everyone in the blind and visually impaired community knows that October is an important month because it is blindness awareness month. World over, people have been celebrating and creating sensitization activities around loving your eyes, which is this year’s hashtag for blindness awareness month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 2.2 billion people around the world who suffer from some kind of visual impairment and 1 billion of those live in Low Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) , Kenya being one of them.

Of those 2.2 billion as well, one billion are preventable issues. This means that if they were addressed earlier enough, then they could have been prevented or reversed.

The visual impairment and blindness issue is important for me to bring it before the House this afternoon because it affects several spheres of one’s life. It affects education, employment, social activities and integration in the community.

Madam Temporary Speaker, at this juncture, I would like to tell you about a personal story of mine. The reason as to why I am so passionate about eye care is because I was not born with the disability.

I was born with my full sight and I started to notice my eyesight declining when I was 14 or 15 years old in high school. This means that I acquired my disability. Reasons such as affordability, lack of awareness and sensitization, lack of prioritizing by Government and the Ministry of Health on eye care and the importance of eye care, are why I unfortunately began to lose my eye sight and I realized it at an earlier stage.

Madam Temporary Speaker, it affected my entire life and absolutely turned it upside down. There are millions of people in Kenya, approximately eight million, that as we speak, need quality eye care. That is, 15.5 per cent of our population. Unfortunately, this is compounded with the lack of ophthalmologists around the country. It is important to note that 58 per cent of the ophthalmologists are in Nairobi City County. This means

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. Disability of any form is a reality that can find someone in the most unexpected way. As shared by the Senator, the issue of eyesight is a critical issue that needs to be shared.

Sometimes when one’s entire wellbeing is intact, we tend to take a lot of things for granted. However, the line between becoming visually impaired or having other forms of disability is very thin. You can be very normal today just to find yourself unable to walk or see the next day.

As such, I support the need for a vibrant eye care centre in all the counties and sub county referral hospitals to attend to eye issues among the other issues that need to be attended to. This is a true clear present possibility that can happen to anybody.

I thank you.

Thank you very much Sen. Crystal Asige. That is very well spoken and presented. We are proud of you as a Senate and remember your name is VIP. Asante sana.

I will allow a few comments; one comment from each side of the House. Proceed, Sen. Oketch Gicheru.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to make a quick statement in appreciation of what Sen. Crystal Asige has talked about.

One of the most ignored chapters of our Constitution is Chapter 4. The framers of the Constitution spent so much time on thinking and rethinking the idea of the Bill of Rights.

If you look at Article 19 of our Constitution, the Bill of Rights is seen as an integral part of our democratic Kenyan State to the extent that it should form the framework for social, economic and cultural policies that we make. I believe that this is one of those socio-economic cultural policies that institutions like the Ministry of Health should look into.

If you look at it further, you will realise that the framers of our Constitution wanted to recognize and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. I believe that eyesight is one of the fundamental freedoms that somebody would not want to lose if asked whether they would rather lose their memory or eye sight.

Essentially, the preserves of the idea around fundamental freedoms were established for Kenyans to have dignity. This dignity would only help people as a matter of social justice and it would help them realize their full potential. There is nothing that impairs somebody from realizing their full potential as losing their eyesight.

I find this Statement to be critically anchored within the idea of fundamental rights and freedoms of Kenyans. I beseech you to commit this Statement to the Committee on Health for them to look deeply on how we can prevent loss of eyesight, so as to avoid the problems that Sen. Crystal Asige has talked about.

Thank you.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on Health regarding the recall and suspension of sales by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) , of several edible oil products from various manufacturers in Kenya. In the Statement the Committee should-

Sen. Olekina, what is your point of order?

Madam Temporary Speaker, I know that some of us are quite new here, but the distinguished Senator who just walked out, Sen. Methu, just crossed the Floor to come to this side. Since we are all learning, all new Senators should be reminded that they have to walk all the way there, bow, and then come here. It is just a point of information.

Thank you, Sen. Olekina. All new Senators, can we take note of that, please?

Senator Cherarkey, you may proceed.

Let us have the next Statement from Sen. Cherarkey.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on Health regarding the recall and suspension of sales by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) , of several edible oil products from various manufacturers in Kenya. In the Statement the Committee should-

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations regarding the incessant conflicts between Mbeere and Ameru communities in Siakago Constituency, Embu County.

In the Statement, the Committee should-

Madam Temporary Speaker, I know that some of us are quite new here, but the distinguished Senator who just walked out, Sen. Methu, just crossed the Floor to come to this side. Since we are all learning, all new Senators should be reminded that they have to walk all the way there, bow, and then come here. It is just a point of information.

Thank you, Sen. Olekina. All new Senators, can we take note of that, please?

Senator Cherarkey, you may proceed.

Madam Temporary Speaker, allow me to pick from where I left.

Next Statement by Sen. Mundigi.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations regarding the incessant conflicts between Mbeere and Ameru communities in Siakago Constituency, Embu County.

In the Statement, the Committee should-

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) , to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations regarding an arsonist attack that left seven members of a family dead in Ngimari village, Gichiche sub-location, Runyenjes Constituency, Embu County. In the Statement, the Committee should-

There is a point of order from Senator Wambua.

Hon. Senators, we will defer the remaining Statements because we have spent a lot of time on this.

The second Statement is

Madam Temporary Speaker, there is a reason I raised that issue. I have a personal issue that I need to attend to and I had asked to be allowed to make my Statements that are listed but I was told that I could only do one Statement. However, if it is allowed for the Senator of Embu, then he is my neighbor. It is okay.

Hon. Senators, we have agreed that he will be the last to read his Statements and then we will postpone the others because we have spent more than one hour on Statements.

Sen. Mundigi, proceed and finalize your Statement

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) , to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations regarding an arsonist attack that left seven members of a family dead in Ngimari village, Gichiche sub-location, Runyenjes Constituency, Embu County. In the Statement, the Committee should-

Hon. Senators, we will defer the remaining Statements because we have spent a lot of time on this.

Otherwise, all the countries of East Africa have already concluded the process of electing Members to EALA except the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This is because it is a new member and now the East African community is going to have seven Members. We have been having six Members and the six Members appoint nine Members from each State. The membership of EALA has been 54.

Southern Sudan have already concluded their elections just last week. Uganda Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania have already concluded theirs. This is an urgent matter that should be concluded as soon as possible because as you could see, the Treaty says the elections should be concluded 90 days to the end of the term of the current Parliament, which is 17th December.

Madam Temporary Speaker, integration is not something that can be gainsaid. Integrating our economies is the way to grow our countries. We cannot expand our economies if we are a small market. It is important to follow and implement the Four Pillars of the East African Community (EAC) as urgently as possible.

The First Pillar is the Customs Union, which is already implemented. The Second Pillar is the Common Market, which is at an advanced implementation stage. It is implemented through protocols. However, countries delay in implementing protocols because of their own national interests, which sometimes slows the integration process.

The Third Pillar is the Monetary Union, which is also at an advanced stage. An Institute has already been established and the Central Bank is going to be here in Nairobi.

The Fourth Pillar is a Political Confederation. It was originally a Political Federation but it has now been reduced to confederation because of sovereign selfishness. There are member States who want to retain more sovereignty and that is why it was moved from federation to confederation. That is also at an important advanced stage of negotiations.

We are expanding the Community. It is important that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joined EAC because it expands our area of economic interest. The DRC is very rich in terms of natural resources and it is a big market for our country.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I support this process. We had nine positions the last time we were elected. The Majority took five positions and the Minority took four. For elections to take place, each position attracts three participants. It means that each party recommends three people. Therefore, if you have four positions, you recommend 12. If you have five, you recommend 15, so that Parliament can vote, elect and recommend nine from the total of 27.

It is a tough election. I know Members here are just from an election. In our place, it was called ‘jamna.’ People were asked to shake something called ‘jamna.’ You had to cough out something. Members have coughed out quite a lot. Please, do not overtax those who want to be Members of EALA. Be fair and select the best people to represent our interests in EAC.

Thank you.

NOW THEREFORE, in accordance with the provisions of Rule 9 of the Houses of Parliament (Joint Sittings) Rules, the Senate resolves:

I congratulate the Senator who has just spoken before me, for the time that he spent in EALA. He is a senior Member of this House. The EALA has been a big disappointment, not only to Kenya but to the rest of EAC.

Madam Temporary Speaker, thank you. This is a very important Motion because it has been worrying me. Nonetheless, the reason it has been delayed in the Kenyan Parliament is because of the elections.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I thank our two colleagues who have responded to this Motion. They have spoken on behalf of the other Senators. I have taken keen interest in their contributions, both North and South, in terms of what EALA has been able to achieve.

Sen. Oburu has served in EALA and he has been very optimistic about what we can achieve as EAC, through EALA Statutes and the four main Pillars. We have benefited from your wisdom, Senator.

I also hear the concerns of my colleague, Sen. Mungatana. I largely agree with him that there is need to push EALA to be firmer with their determination. However, until all the seven partner States sign the Statutes that Sen. Oburu referred to, then I am afraid we will not be able to achieve what you are looking for. It is because as it is, resolutions of EALA just end up being urging partner States to do this or that.

For example, as you may remember in 2013, the Pillar on Monetary Union was signed into action. However, because we have not ceded our sovereignty as a union to EALA, it then becomes difficult for us to achieve real and actual integration. Many of the resolutions will end up being statements of urging partner States to do as follows. It then goes to the Council of Ministers and we again wait for the annual Head of States Summit. If there is no goodwill in even one out of the seven, then the entire process forestalls.

Sen. Mungatana, proceed. You have only two minutes.

Madam Temporary Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I have only one point and I will be brief.

I congratulate the Senator who has just spoken before me, for the time that he spent in EALA. He is a senior Member of this House. The EALA has been a big disappointment, not only to Kenya but to the rest of EAC.

B. County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee

C. Committee on Delegated Legislation

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I thank our two colleagues who have responded to this Motion. They have spoken on behalf of the other Senators. I have taken keen interest in their contributions, both North and South, in terms of what EALA has been able to achieve.

Sen. Oburu has served in EALA and he has been very optimistic about what we can achieve as EAC, through EALA Statutes and the four main Pillars. We have benefited from your wisdom, Senator.

I also hear the concerns of my colleague, Sen. Mungatana. I largely agree with him that there is need to push EALA to be firmer with their determination. However, until all the seven partner States sign the Statutes that Sen. Oburu referred to, then I am afraid we will not be able to achieve what you are looking for. It is because as it is, resolutions of EALA just end up being urging partner States to do this or that.

For example, as you may remember in 2013, the Pillar on Monetary Union was signed into action. However, because we have not ceded our sovereignty as a union to EALA, it then becomes difficult for us to achieve real and actual integration. Many of the resolutions will end up being statements of urging partner States to do as follows. It then goes to the Council of Ministers and we again wait for the annual Head of States Summit. If there is no goodwill in even one out of the seven, then the entire process forestalls.

Thank you, Madam, Temporary Speaker. I rise to second the Motion of the consideration of Senators to serve in these three Committees.

If you look at all the Order Papers that we have considered since we started the term of this Parliament, you will notice that the Papers Laid revolve around the two Committees that we are considering their Members today.

The first Paper Laid out today is the Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of Narok County Executive for the year ended 30th June, 2021. The fourth one is on the Report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements of Narok County Bursary Fund for the year ended 30th June, 2021.Those two Statements fall under the County Public Accounts Committee. When you go further down, you will find Papers that fall under the County Public Investments Committee.

The sooner we dispense this matter and constitute these committees, the earlier it will be for us to complete the work we have been tasked with. Standing Order Nos.193 to 195 are clear on the mandate of each of those committees.

The biggest challenge that we encountered during the last Parliament where I served as a Member of the Committee on Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) , before these two committees were split was that it was tedious; a governor would appear and we would sit for six hours and only be able to prosecute two issues or questions.

I want to echo the sentiments of my colleague, the Senate Majority Leader, that those Senators who have been tasked with the mandate to oversight county governments; that mandate is very clear. It calls for you, as a person, to respect the principle of the fiduciary duty. You are tasked with the fiduciary duty to ensure that the work you are doing will continue gaining respect from the members of the public who elected you to serve them in this House.

These are committees which require people who are going to commit their time, sweat and blood to make sure we can call for accountability among the 47 counties. I

Hon. Senators, pursuant to Standing Order No.84 (2) , I wish to make a determination that this matter does not affect counties. Therefore, I would like to put the question.

I am moving this Motion in an amended form because there are changes since we gave the Notice of Motion.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to move- THAT, pursuant to Standing Order Nos. 193, 194, 195, and 199, the Senate approves the following Senators nominated by the Senate Business Committee to serve in Select Committees of the Senate as follows –

A. County Public Accounts Committee

B. County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee

C. Committee on Delegated Legislation

Sen. Olekina, proceed.

I am well advised that the Standing Orders provide for 20 minutes. However, I urge Members to just be cognisant of the fact that there are many of you contributing. So, just give a chance to the others as you can.

The next speaker is Sen. Gataya, Senator for Tharaka Nithi.

heard my colleagues say that this is a committee that requires all 47 delegations represented. I dare say that all the 47 delegations are actually represented because when a governor is appearing before that Committee, as a Senator for that county, you have the right to be there and to question him.

Therefore, not all of us should want to serve in that Committee because only nine of us can do so; five members from the majority side and four from the minority side. I want to reiterate and plead that we should approve these Members so that we can start working.

On the issue of delegated legislation, we have seen the work done by the Senator for Mombasa County when we had the statutory regulations were brought for consideration by this House. If it was not for the work which was done by Sen. Faki, a lot of them would have been declared to be unconstitutional. The mandate is quite clear. I invite Senators to look at Standing Order Nos. 193, 194 and 195 so that they can understand their mandate.

The other issue is that these committees can be reconstituted at any given time. I know the Standing Orders call for a period of about three years, but nothing stops us since we have been given that power by Standing Order No.200 to make those changes and bring other people who can help the House to deliver on her mandate. I know for a fact that when I served as a Member of CPAIC, every single day, all nine Members were present.

It has now been divided into two. I do not see why we cannot complete the work. We ended up becoming morticians, looking into issues which had already happened. However, nothing stops the leadership of those two committees from taking on an active matter and investigating it.

In fact, this is the argument I had with the Clerk's Office on a Statement I sought and I was told that, that Statement can only go to a particular committee because one of these select committees does not have a tradition of bringing Statements.

I want to challenge that because when you look at the mandate of the CPAIC and read Standing Order No.193(1)(d), it says: “the mandate is to exercise, oversight over County Public Accounts”. There is nowhere in that mandate that says that we have to do a post-mortem exercise and that we have to wait for the Auditor General to carry out investigation and submit the report following the process of the Public Audit Act.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to challenge all the Senators who are sitting here that whenever we have an issue to carry out, we do so diligently. I believe that all the names of all the Senators who have been proposed to serve in these three committees are people who are able to deliver justice and to call for fiduciary responsibility among the 47 counties.

As I summarize, I hope that this will approve this Motion so that we can clear all the Papers that have been laid on the Table of this House and allow county governments to catch up. There is a lot happening in county governments. If we are not the true ombudspersons of our citizens, then we will be lying not only to ourselves but also to the almighty God, who has sent us to ensure that we deliver on the mandate that were elected; which is clearly described under Article 186 of the Constitution.

I support and hope that all the Members will support.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I am among the Senators who are very keen to make comments about the Committees that we are putting together as a House.

If you look at Article 92 of the Constitution, the legislative authority of the Republic is derived from the people and more importantly, it is vested in Parliament.

There is no any embodiment of this authority that is more powerful than the Committees that we are passing here today. This is because these three Committees look at the resources that go to counties under Article 203 of the Constitution.

Therefore, my comments today will be two. First, the Senate Majority Leader has talked about the limitations that we have under the function of oversight. I have seen that the ladies and gentlemen who were elected to this House have serious experiences, interest and backgrounds.

Therefore, I urge the House and Members of those particular Committees to be more adventurers and bring out the spirit of entrepreneur and critical thinking in terms of running these Committees.

If you look at Standing Order No.193 that talks about County Public Accounts Committee, sometimes people are limited to just making sure that counties look at the functions of these Committee with regards to Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution on basic financial and ordinary audit of finances that are going to the counties.

However, we can advance further and be creative in this Committees and look at things like social audit. Are these monies going to the counties having serious impact beyond just the idea of following typical financial audits? That means that we must go

further to invite creative thinking and make sure that counties do proper investments according to the priorities of their people.

In that regard, I also want to express to the House that given my background in investments and FinTech expert, I will be putting my name forward when we go to the Committees to vie for the Chairperson for the County Public Accounts Committee.

It is extremely critical that we bring about new thinking in this House. That new thinking does not just come with thinking about vested interests of today but also investing in the future by following through the investments that are going to the counties.

With that, I do support the Motion on the Floor.

I am well advised that the Standing Orders provide for 20 minutes. However, I urge Members to just be cognisant of the fact that there are many of you contributing. So, just give a chance to the others as you can.

The next speaker is Sen. Gataya, Senator for Tharaka Nithi.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I start by putting across some information that my name is Mheshimiwa Mwenda Gataya Mo Fire and not ‘Mofire’ as you mispronounced it. That is a slight oversight.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I stand here today to support the Motion. I have gone through the list of the entire membership in all the Committees and they are men of integrity who are going to make sure that we have a face for this august House especially the County Public Accounts Committee.

I happened to be the Chairperson of the Committee on Public Accounts one time when I served in Tharaka-Nithi County Assembly. So, this Committee requires people of high integrity.

I am sure that this House is composed of ladies and gentlemen of high integrity who will make sure that the name of the Senate will be protected in that spirit.

We will endeavour to make serious deliberations in other Committees and meet the target.

So, I strongly support.

Thank you. Sen. Oketch Gicheru, please, proceed.

I serve in two Committees; the Committee on Public Investments and Special Funds Committee, and the Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations. There is already too much work for the two Committees. We must hold our governors to account and expect them to live by the book and to serve the people of the counties we come from.

As Sen. Olekina has said, the oversight that we must undertake as a House should not be where Members are called and told to do things according to script. We must hold accounting officers and governors in the counties accountable. We must summon them when there are questions on accountability.

The Public Investments and Special Funds Committee is a new Committee that was disengaged from the former Committee on Public Accounts and Investments (CPAIC). We want governors to account for county investments. Where they collect funds and run water companies, we want to see that the water companies are properly audited.

If they are running parks and benefiting from collection parks, for instance, at Maasai Mara, we want to see that those companies are run properly and accounted for.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we want to see that this Senate works differently from the previous Senate. I second. I need not to go beyond that so that my hand is not seen too early.

One point before I sit. I have two Statements that will come in tomorrow, a security questions for Sondu in my county. Let us wait and hear it.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale: Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. Congratulations for sitting in that Chair this afternoon. This being your maiden time, I was tempted to rise on a point order and you know why. I do not think we can go there.

This is the Committee. The Committees on Public Accounts (PAC), PIC and Justice and Legal Affairs and Human Rights (JLAC) define Senate.

If you get it wrong on these three Committees, there is no Senate. We will leave a very poor or no legacy whatsoever. Now going forward, we should re-think our position in society and agree that, as a House, when it is a matter on these Select Committees, we unite and save the country for the future.

In the short time that I have been here, I have been truly impressed by the commitment of all Senators. I have no doubt in my mind that all these Senators will live up to it. When I first saw the name of Sen. Sifuna, I quickly reflected on what he has been saying during his talk shows on television stations and during rallies. This is a unique opportunity for the young Senator to walk the talk. He has been fighting corruption on television stations and public rallies and he now has the best platform, the Senate, as member of this Committee.

I also saw the name of Sen. Okiya Omtatah. Sen. Okiya Omtatah is a hero in this country. He has played more oversight than many elected Members of Parliament from the corridors he has been walking for many years. In fact, if Sen. Okiya Omtatah becomes the Chairman of this Committee, I promise I will be attending in what Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC will call amicus curiae.

Madam Temporary Speaker, on the Judiciary, the President has pronounced and demonstrated that he wants to allow the rule of law. In the history of the Judiciary, we unfortunately do not know whether it is the Executive that was dictating the Judiciary or if there was some other problem. The Judiciary has been a problem.

I remember I chaired the first impeachment committee of a governor. This House impeached that governor twice. The first time the courts overturned it on matters of procedure. We did it again and he went home. The guy lived in the courts for four years until he finished his term. Using the same money of which we had impeached him, he bought his way back for a second term.

Judiciary, you are now being supported by this Parliament and the Executive. Enjoy your independence and give Parliament freedom to properly carry out its oversight role.

Madam Temporary Speaker, another issue is political parties. Whereas I would have loved my kid brother, Sen. Sifuna, to become the Chairman, I do not vote there. If you became the Chairman, this is not an easy Committee. You will find it extremely difficult to work because the governors first port of call, once summoned, is the political party chiefs. I have been in this seat for three years and I know that the chiefs come for you as the Chairman claiming their governor and member of their party cannot be impeached.

Political party heads including my own political party leader, His Excellency President William Ruto, and other political party heads, should keep off the affairs of PAC and PIC. We want to put governors to check.

Point of order? Am I out of order? An.

Point of information.

Okay, information. Yes, Sir. Give me the information so long as my time is held. I have three more points to finish.

Madam Temporary Speaker, this is the time they are talking about issues of your county. The governor because of other reasons, including attempts to influence the Committee either through financial constriction – I am not casting aspersions against Members of this Committee because they are yet to become Members – or through the influence of political parties---

For instance, the Governor of Uasin Gishu County, with all due respect, will come before the Committee on County Public Accounts. Supposing his party leader who is the President, took a position, would you really manage to oversight again?

So, you need the Senator of that county to be there to challenge the governor and be given space and opportunity to vote. That way, the people back home can know that we are elected as Senators who are earning a salary. We are being paid Kshs1 million. The majority of us, being people with a hustler background, Kshs1million is a fortune. We want to be seen to be earning it.

Madam Temporary Speaker, with due respect, I know the Professor is not happy that I am thinking Khs1million is a fortune.

I serve in two Committees; the Committee on Public Investments and Special Funds Committee, and the Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations. There is already too much work for the two Committees. We must hold our governors to account and expect them to live by the book and to serve the people of the counties we come from.As Sen. Olekina has said, the oversight that we must undertake as a House should not be where Members are called and told to do things according to script. We must hold accounting officers and governors in the counties accountable. We must summon them when there are questions on accountability.The Public Investments and Special Funds Committee is a new Committee that was disengaged from the former Committee on Public Accounts and Investments (CPAIC). We want governors to account for county investments. Where they collect funds and run water companies, we want to see that the water companies are properly audited.If they are running parks and benefiting from collection parks, for instance, at Maasai Mara, we want to see that those companies are run properly and accounted for.Madam Temporary Speaker, we want to see that this Senate works differently from the previous Senate. I second. I need not to go beyond that so that my hand is not seen too early.One point before I sit. I have two Statements that will come in tomorrow, a security questions for Sondu in my county. Let us wait and hear it.

We have two of them.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. Congratulations for sitting in that Chair this afternoon. This being your maiden time, I was tempted to rise on a point order and you know why. I do not think we can go there.This is the Committee. The Committees on Public Accounts (PAC), PIC and Justice and Legal Affairs and Human Rights (JLAC) define Senate.If you get it wrong on these three Committees, there is no Senate. We will leave a very poor or no legacy whatsoever. Now going forward, we should re-think our position in society and agree that, as a House, when it is a matter on these Select Committees, we unite and save the country for the future.In the short time that I have been here, I have been truly impressed by the commitment of all Senators. I have no doubt in my mind that all these Senators will live up to it. When I first saw the name of Sen. Sifuna, I quickly reflected on what he has been saying during his talk shows on television stations and during rallies. This is a unique opportunity for the young Senator to walk the talk. He has been fighting corruption on television stations and public rallies and he now has the best platform, the Senate, as member of this Committee.I also saw the name of Sen. Okiya Omtatah. Sen. Okiya Omtatah is a hero in this country. He has played more oversight than many elected Members of Parliament from the corridors he has been walking for many years. In fact, if Sen. Okiya Omtatah becomes the Chairman of this Committee, I promise I will be attending in what Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC will call amicus curiae.

Madam Temporary Speaker, on the Judiciary, the President has pronounced and demonstrated that he wants to allow the rule of law. In the history of the Judiciary, we unfortunately do not know whether it is the Executive that was dictating the Judiciary or if there was some other problem. The Judiciary has been a problem.

I remember I chaired the first impeachment committee of a governor. This House impeached that governor twice. The first time the courts overturned it on matters of procedure. We did it again and he went home. The guy lived in the courts for four years until he finished his term. Using the same money of which we had impeached him, he bought his way back for a second term.

Judiciary, you are now being supported by this Parliament and the Executive. Enjoy your independence and give Parliament freedom to properly carry out its oversight role.

Madam Temporary Speaker, another issue is political parties. Whereas I would have loved my kid brother, Sen. Sifuna, to become the Chairman, I do not vote there. If you became the Chairman, this is not an easy Committee. You will find it extremely difficult to work because the governors first port of call, once summoned, is the political party chiefs. I have been in this seat for three years and I know that the chiefs come for you as the Chairman claiming their governor and member of their party cannot be impeached.

Political party heads including my own political party leader, His Excellency President William Ruto, and other political party heads, should keep off the affairs of PAC and PIC. We want to put governors to check.

Point of order? Am I out of order? An.

Point of information.

Okay, information. Yes, Sir. Give me the information so long as my time is held. I have three more points to finish.

Madam Temporary Speaker, this is the time they are talking about issues of your county. The governor because of other reasons, including attempts to influence the Committee either through financial constriction – I am not casting aspersions against Members of this Committee because they are yet to become Members – or through the influence of political parties---

For instance, the Governor of Uasin Gishu County, with all due respect, will come before the Committee on County Public Accounts. Supposing his party leader who is the President, took a position, would you really manage to oversight again?

So, you need the Senator of that county to be there to challenge the governor and be given space and opportunity to vote. That way, the people back home can know that we are elected as Senators who are earning a salary. We are being paid Kshs1 million. The majority of us, being people with a hustler background, Kshs1million is a fortune. We want to be seen to be earning it.

Madam Temporary Speaker, with due respect, I know the Professor is not happy that I am thinking Khs1million is a fortune.

An

Most of the auditors were under the patronage of the governors. Therefore, they could not to pick the major issues and concerns that led to the mismanagement of funds sent to the counties.

Madam Temporary Speaker, there were instances where governors were summoned and they refused to appear in the committees. The governors for Murangá, Kitui, Kakamega and Machakos counties refused to appear before the Committee and none of them was ever arrested by the police.

The Senator for Kakamega County has talked about special audits. Special audits were commissioned in the last Senate. However, most of the issues that were brought in were very minor and could not sustain progressive oversight of those counties. This is because the same governors who do the special audits are the ones who do the annual audits in those counties.

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has eight regional stations. That is where they take the auditors from to go look at the accounts of the counties but that is an exercise in futility.

The most important function is to have people do the audits in the specific counties. We did one audit in Mombasa County. We took the Senate Sessional Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments (CPAIC) to the County Government of Mombasa in 2019 and we only did half of what we had set out to do. The Governor sort of disappeared but we made the point that he can be questioned on the use of funds that belong to that county.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we are now going to have two Committees. One will be dealing with the accounts and the other one will be dealing with the investments which will make it easy for the two Committees to deal with the issues arising from those counties. However, we should not wait for the AG’s reports. We should be proactive and visit the counties to see what is happening there. If there is a road project that is being done, we will see it on the ground. This is because most of the projects that are factored in by the auditors are phantom projects. In most cases, money is paid but there is nothing on the ground to show that the project has been commissioned by the county government.

The other aspect is the conduct of our committees. In the last Committee, the concern was that the county governments would just appear before them for the sake of it and nothing much was being done.

I attended a session where my Governor was being grilled over the accounts and I was asked not to ask many questions because time was running out. It was about midday and we had to finish up by 1.00 p.m. Therefore, we could not do much. We should not take that trend because the issues that were being asked concerned the county and the people of Mombasa and we should not have been stopped from asking those serious questions.

Madam Temporary Speaker, last year, I brought a Petition to this House on behalf of the residents of Buxton over the demolition of their estate by the County Government. Their houses were being demolished because an investor was rebuilding the estate. The Petition was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Roads and Transport which was led by the now Governor of Kiambu County.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I am saying this for the sake of my daughter. If she visited Parliament, she would ask all of you what is wrong with women because of all the pictures on the wall, there has been no women speakers. That is why I have never come here with my little girls but I come with my boys because they see the men. I am ashamed of what to tell my girls.

We need to tweak it so that they cool at home, we finish their cases and then they can come here.

On the issue of volume of work, I saw Sen. Olekina come to it. However, let me just put a little bit of flesh on the skeleton that he laid. Today, I have tabled 41 Papers that require the work of this Committee. There will be 47 reports from 47 counties that will require the work of this Committee. There is no time for this Committee to do all this work.

Madam Temporary Speaker, what do I propose? We should look at it critically so that we allow the Office of the Speaker to create and allow our research officers to be taking the reports of the Auditor General. They will go through them and flag out issues that require to be addressed by this Committee.

If you have improved on it, thank you very much. However, I am saying this because for example; when you go to this Committee, Members would like to pin down a governor. You find a governor wasted Kshs10 million on fueling vehicles. So, you waste time following that Kshs10 million and you do not go to projects worth Kshs100 of millions. The governor then he escapes.

For instance, if the last Committee on Public Accounts had worked--- I am not saying they did not work. They did their best but because of the volume of work, they did not reach Kakamega County. They scratched. For ten years, a multimillion stadium has not come out of phase one and yet billions of shillings have been spent already. This Senate did not pronounce itself on it for five years.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in Kakamega County, Mumias Hospital was being constructed using millions of shillings. It was eventually converted into a COVID-19 restriction centre but it is not operational. Shamakhubu Hospital in Shinyalu is not in use. The Kakamega Teaching and Referral Hospital was worth Kshs4.5 billion in ten years but it is not in use. You then come and tell me the function of the Senate is to oversight governors? We are failing.

If we had such a group because of the volume of work, they would flag out these four projects in Kakamega County. The Governor would have been pinned down, so that he tells us why he owns all these multimillion properties in Nairobi City and even in South Africa. This should be the work of the Senate.

This should be the work of the Senate. Given that we are in a world where a Minister in China was sentenced to death and he is serving a prison term, that is the route we should follow. We should make corruption completely unacceptable. It should be nothing personal.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to conclude by responding again to the concerns by Sen. Olekina. Sen. Olekina is worried about it being a committee of morticians but we have an opportunity.

Whoever becomes the Chairperson, even if it is Sen. Okiya Omtatah, they should not waste time because we want to deal with current issues like Sen. Olekina said. We should not waste time waiting for the Auditor-General’s reports that are five years old.

We should take the route of special audits. As the Chairman of the Committee, once Members support you, when there is a particular issue, you should request for a special audit and ask the Auditor-General to come. They will audit the use of the funds and give a report that you can use to pin them down.

One of the best Auditor-Generals that we have had in this country was Mr. Edward Ouko. He is now enjoying his retirement. I would call him and he would come and give us a special audit report. It is only special audit reports that can help us to scare governors, so that they do not think that they have an opportunity to loot.

Let me tell you this, Sen. Osotsi. I am waiting for you. There are two reasons why most Senators want to leave this great House to go and vie for the position of governor and I was one of them.

First, you are so angry because you can see people looting in black and white. You want to go back and stop it and correct things. The second reason is because you find that stealing is so attractive and you want to go and join the gravy train.

We should make stealing to be shameful such that no Senator would want to go there for the reason of looting. If you think that I am lying, we have now gone through a full circle of devolution, which is 10 years. Do we have any governor who served either one or two terms that is celebrated by the public? There is none.

There is something wrong. We should make the position of governor to be good that one day, a governor will be celebrated in this country, the way this country celebrates Hon. Mwai Kibaki.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I support.

Proceed, Sen. Faki.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to support the Motion on selection of Members to the three committees. We have the CPAC---

Just a second, Sen. Faki. Hon. Senators, please, log in again because the system was interrupted a little. Those who want to speak should log in again.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the three committees are mainly tasked with the oversight role in this House.

I was privileged to serve in the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) in the first two years of our tenure in the Senate. That was from 2017 to 2020. I had the opportunity to also chair the Committee on Delegated Legislation of the Senate from 2020 until the end of our term in June this year.

From my experience, most of the issues brought before the Senate by the auditors, especially affecting the second-term governors were minor such as failure to do bank reconciliations, unsurrendered imprest and others that are mundane.

Most of the auditors were under the patronage of the governors. Therefore, they could not to pick the major issues and concerns that led to the mismanagement of funds sent to the counties.

Madam Temporary Speaker, there were instances where governors were summoned and they refused to appear in the committees. The governors for Murangá, Kitui, Kakamega and Machakos counties refused to appear before the Committee and none of them was ever arrested by the police.

The Senator for Kakamega County has talked about special audits. Special audits were commissioned in the last Senate. However, most of the issues that were brought in were very minor and could not sustain progressive oversight of those counties. This is because the same governors who do the special audits are the ones who do the annual audits in those counties.

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has eight regional stations. That is where they take the auditors from to go look at the accounts of the counties but that is an exercise in futility.

The most important function is to have people do the audits in the specific counties. We did one audit in Mombasa County. We took the Senate Sessional Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments (CPAIC) to the County Government of Mombasa in 2019 and we only did half of what we had set out to do. The Governor sort of disappeared but we made the point that he can be questioned on the use of funds that belong to that county.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we are now going to have two Committees. One will be dealing with the accounts and the other one will be dealing with the investments which will make it easy for the two Committees to deal with the issues arising from those counties. However, we should not wait for the AG’s reports. We should be proactive and visit the counties to see what is happening there. If there is a road project that is being done, we will see it on the ground. This is because most of the projects that are factored in by the auditors are phantom projects. In most cases, money is paid but there is nothing on the ground to show that the project has been commissioned by the county government.

The other aspect is the conduct of our committees. In the last Committee, the concern was that the county governments would just appear before them for the sake of it and nothing much was being done.

I attended a session where my Governor was being grilled over the accounts and I was asked not to ask many questions because time was running out. It was about midday and we had to finish up by 1.00 p.m. Therefore, we could not do much. We should not take that trend because the issues that were being asked concerned the county and the people of Mombasa and we should not have been stopped from asking those serious questions.

Madam Temporary Speaker, last year, I brought a Petition to this House on behalf of the residents of Buxton over the demolition of their estate by the County Government. Their houses were being demolished because an investor was rebuilding the estate. The Petition was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Roads and Transport which was led by the now Governor of Kiambu County.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. Congratulations for sitting in that seat. You look good there. I am sure one of the days Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale will not be ashamed of bringing his daughters here because soon we are going to have a lady Speaker. That time you can bring your daughters to the House.

Madam Temporary Speaker, my governor was called twice to the CPAIC. We questioned him on the issues that made him be called here. There are a lot of issues not only Machakos County but all counties. As we speak now, we have more that 400 stalled projects in Machakos County and the monies for those projects have been misappropriated. So, PAC has a lot of work to do.

One time when he came, the Session was live. However, I do not know what happened on the second time. There were no cameras, so the Session was not live. The people back at my county were complaining why the Session was not live.

I would request this Committees to be live when the governors appear and the Senators of that County are present. This is so that the interrogation can be seen back at home and the Senators can be seen to be doing the right thing and working.

Just as one of us has commented, some of the Senators were asking us not to ask certain questions but instead seek Statements at the Senate Plenary. We are there to question and the Governor must answer every question. For example, my Governor was given two weeks to bring a particular report and another two weeks to bring another report. However, he has never brought those reports to date. So, I hope the Committee that has been tasked will follow up with the issues that the governors were to report on to ensure they are done.

I donate my one minute to somebody else.

Sen. Oyomo, proceed.

Thank you, Sen. Kavindu Muthama, for donating the one minute. I support the Motion. I heard Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale say that we do this to scare governors. We will do this not only to scare governors, but we want people to answer the audit questions effectively.

I support the composition of the names that have been proposed for the three Committees because they are Senators with commendable credentials. The Committees is where the rubber meets the road.

The mandate of the Senate, through the audits done by the Committee on County Public Accounts was reaffirmed by the ruling of the Supreme Court. The Senate has powers to summon governors to answer to all queries from the Auditor General. The Supreme Court ruled that governors should not only be summoned to give specific information but any information---

Order!

during vetting. These committees need to come up with recommendations on how to handle such issues.

The Government has stated that it is going to promote Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). The County Public Investment and Special Funds Committee should also come up with recommendations on how such PPPs would happen.

As it stands today, it is very hard for a county to do a PPP because they must seek approval from the National Treasury. If the National Treasury is not in good terms with a county, they might probably not get a nod to go on with the partnership.

The ‘Hustlers’ Fund is coming. I believe that even if it is a national Fund, who knows, maybe the governors or Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) will be tasked to oversee the distribution of the Fund. This means that this ‘special fund’ will come to this Committee for scrutiny.

It is my prayer that those Members who have been nominated to this Committee, serve diligently, so that at the end of this Session, we will know that we worked for our people and we did it right.

I do not know whether I should agree with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, on the issue of governors who seek Senatorial seats to have a hiatus of about five years because there is no vacuum in Government.

If you want to know what the previous governor did, we just write to the current governor today and he or she will bring that information to these committees. The governor in question can only declare his conflict of interest and be put aside as we investigate.

We want governors to work knowing that there is somewhere else they can go. If we say they will never run anywhere, they will not treat our people well because they know that is the end of their game. So, we are giving them a hand to steal more if we bar them from running for any other office.

I support.

Sen. Kavindu Muthama, do you still want to speak?

Hon. Senators, it is now 6.30 p.m., time to adjourn the House. Therefore, the Senate stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, 19th October, 2022 at 2.30 p.m.

The Senate rose at 6.30 p.m.

I would request this Committees to be live when the governors appear and the Senators of that County are present. This is so that the interrogation can be seen back at home and the Senators can be seen to be doing the right thing and working.

Just as one of us has commented, some of the Senators were asking us not to ask certain questions but instead seek Statements at the Senate Plenary. We are there to question and the Governor must answer every question. For example, my Governor was given two weeks to bring a particular report and another two weeks to bring another report. However, he has never brought those reports to date. So, I hope the Committee that has been tasked will follow up with the issues that the governors were to report on to ensure they are done.

I donate my one minute to somebody else.

Sen. Oyomo, proceed.

Thank you, Sen. Kavindu Muthama, for donating the one minute. I support the Motion. I heard Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale say that we do this to scare governors. We will do this not only to scare governors, but we want people to answer the audit questions effectively.

I support the composition of the names that have been proposed for the three Committees because they are Senators with commendable credentials. The Committees is where the rubber meets the road.

The mandate of the Senate, through the audits done by the Committee on County Public Accounts was reaffirmed by the ruling of the Supreme Court. The Senate has powers to summon governors to answer to all queries from the Auditor General. The Supreme Court ruled that governors should not only be summoned to give specific information but any information---

Order!

I support.

Sen. Oyomo, you have a balance of 18 minutes tomorrow.

Hon. Senators, it is now 6.30 p.m., time to adjourn the House. Therefore, the Senate stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, 19th October, 2022 at 2.30 p.m.

The Senate rose at 6.30 p.m.