Senate · Afternoon Sitting

Clerk, do we have quorum? Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly ring the Quorum Bell for 10 minutes.

[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]

Hon. Senators, we do have quorum now so we will proceed with the days’ business. Clerk, kindly proceed to call the first Order.

Statement pursuant to Standing Order No.53

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I request to be protected from the noise.

Order, Hon. Senators. May the Senator for Bungoma County be heard in silence.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.53 (1) to seek a Statement from the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare regarding the status of remittances to the Bungoma County government employees’ pension scheme from 2022 to date. In the Statement, the committee should-

Statement pursuant to Standing Order No.56 (1) (a) , the Chairperson Standing Committee on Education.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.56 (1) (a) to make a statement relating to a matter for which the Committee on Education is responsible. During the Motion on the current state of the nation, the Senate directed the Standing Committee on Education to liaise with the Minister of Education and other stakeholders with a view to resolving the concerns raised regarding Junior Sec…

Statement pursuant to Standing Order No.57 (1) . The Senate Majority Leader, please proceed.

[(Sen. Chimera consulted Sen. Cheruiyot)]

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are young men in this House who mislead elders. My apologies.

We have 58 Bills that are pending conclusion, of which 40 are at the second reading stage, while 18 are the Committee of the Whole stage. There are 29 Motions and 26 Petitions pending conclusion before the various standing committees, whereby, 19 of such, are already due for reporting. They are way past the statutory period. There are 441 Statements before the committees pursuant to Standing Order…

The tentative business for meeting for the morning sitting on Wednesday 20th will include businesses that will not have been responded to. Question Nos. 53, 71, 82, 94, 98, 118, 119, 125 are Statements to the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development by the various Senators. That Minister will be appearing this coming week. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Question No.125 to…

Next Order.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, you remember there is a request I made---

Sen. Faki, do you have any information that will aid the House?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have very good information.

Okay, proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. We had our first meeting of the Mediation Committee on Thursday last week. We had a morning session, which was very acrimonious, because the Members of the National Assembly were of the opinion that we could not discuss the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) before the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) cases that have been filed in court are withdrawn. We argued for about…

figure acceptable to the National Assembly. However, they said we could not discuss the issue of quantum before resolving the RMLF case that is in the courts.

Thank you. Proceed, the Senator for Nandi.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise under Standing Order No.1 to raise two issues - mediation and university funding model. I am kindly requesting if you can give us maybe 15 minutes to ventilate on them.

We will not discuss the progress report that we have just been given by Sen. Faki.

Then we can do the university model by the Chair.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Let me be the first to have the bite on the cherry. I support the Statement by Sen. Wafula on the issue of Bungoma employees. In most of the audit reports that come to the Senate, almost all counties are beyond 35 per cent in their fiscal responsibility. In fact, you have been a governor and you will notice that most counties are going beyond 35 per cent in terms of e…

One minute to go, Senator.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Although we receive bashing from National Assembly that we should not be discussing such matters, I thought everything concerns counties. These students we are talking about come from counties. Therefore, I think the National Assembly should get busy ama waende wasikie vibaya na huko kwao.

Proceed, Sen. Ogola.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to comment on the university funding model. It is also fortunate that the Committee on Education just took us to a very engaging sensitisation with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) caucus. The focus was purely on what we are discussing now. We are very convinced that the Committee on Education will be able to tackle some of the challenges. The university funding m…

Sen. Gloria. You have three minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I would like to add my voice on the new university funding model, especially on the issue of determining the level of need. This has caused a lot of conflict because most households have considered that approach not fair. I urge that we clean up this process. On the issue of TVETs, when you look at the discrepancy on the funding model, you will find TVETs are undermin…

now with the new institutions we put in place like the one that recognizes prior learning, it pushes the TVETs industry. The funding model is cutting out the TVETs students. Otherwise, how they determine the student’s level of need is a big conversation. If we focus on having a fair matrix, then we will not have all the noise that is there, especially on determining who qualifies and who does not…

Sen. Omogeni.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. For purposes of record, I would like to alert the Senator for Nandi, Sen. Cherarkey that HELB extends loans to students at the KSL, beginning from the year 2024/2025. I want that to go on record so that the people in Nandi are not misled. There is already an agreement between HELB and KSL. The issue of loans to universities is a big problem and there are many students…

Hon. Senators, for the convenience of the House, allow me to re-arrange the sequence of today’s Order Paper. We will move to handle Order No. 24 and, thereafter, Order No.27, before resuming the normal flow as contained in today’s Order Paper.

At the interruption of debate on this Order, Sen. Tabitha Mutinda was on her feet and she had 16 minutes to finalise her intervention. She is not present to take her 16 minutes. So, the Floor is open to any Senator wishing to contribute to this Bill. Hon. Senators, I am not seeing any Senator expressing their desire to contribute on this Bill. Therefore, I call upon the Mover to reply.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I appreciate colleague Senators who have taken time to speak to the Elections (Amendment) Bill (No.2) Senate Bills No. 29 of 2024, one of the three NADCO Bills. I also wish to thank Sen. Okong’o Omogeni who seconded the Bill and the more than 15 Senators who took time to speak to it and share their concerns on our elections management. The most important thing I would wish to s…

It is so deferred. Next Order, Clerk. Proceed, the Senate Majority Leader.

Hon. Senators, I wish to report to the Senate that pursuant to Standing Order No.47, I received a Message from His Excellency, Hon. William Ruto, PhD, CGH, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) , on the nomination of Mr. Gerald Nyaoma Arita for appointment to the position of Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) . The Message was…

within fourteen days from the date on which the notification of nomination was given in accordance with Section 5.

Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity to also weigh in on this Bill. From the onset, I have tried to understand what this Bill is trying to cure, but I cannot. If this Bill will come the way it is, I will surely not support it. I will oppose it because the Kenyan motto from the beginning when the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was alive was Harambee. Harambee means coming …

people or pulling them towards their agenda. However, when you read it, it is curtailing the belief that Kenyans have always had. Harambees or fundraisers have built schools and provided medical assistance to people who are very vulnerable. We have helped families to come out of hardship. We have done harambees and fundraisers to buy someone a cow or a boda boda or help someone start a small busin…

harambee. You cannot even tell people the little amount that you have. That is infringing on freedom of association. We should come up with a way to stop the public officers, but not as stated in Clause 13. It is also an offence for an aspiring candidate to attend a harambee three years prior to the next election. It is like we decide to run for an election five or four years before the election.…

Sen. Karungo, resume your seat. As you conclude, I invoke the provisions of Standing Order No.34 (2) (a) to extend the sitting for five minutes to allow you to conclude your contribution.

[(Sen. Thang’wa resumed his seat)]

Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. You are the best. I was about to conclude. If you look at Clause 32, it says that- “Every person who conducts a fundraising appeal shall keep a record reflecting the income and expenditure relating to the appeal” Then, it gives details. This is an administrative burden. You are telling me that everybody who comes must write their name and say how m…

If the Mover of this Bill does not change, as the Members have said here today, I do not see this Bill seeing the light of the day. Thank you.