By ALEX KIPROTICH
Battle for supremacy on which House, between Parliament and Senate, is senior dominated day one of senators’ induction workshop in Naivasha. The meeting, which brought together all the 67 senators, was the first outside Senate formal sittings in Nairobi.
Though the workshop was meant to provide an overview of the role of Senate to enlighten senators on Standing Orders, protocol and parliamentary diplomacy, debate on the place of Senate in the political order dominated.
Mombasa County Senator Omar Hassan said it was only logical that Senate comes second in command after the presidency, given its oversight role. Hassan said the Tenth Parliament deliberately watered down the functions and role of the Senate to undermine it.
Rightful role
“The Senate should take its rightful role and position in the hierarchy of power. It comes second after the presidency, but MPs in the Tenth Parliament deliberately undermined it,” he said.
He said as senators, there is need to re-state some of the roles, especially veto power.
“There are some contradicting clauses where the lower House vetoes the Upper House. This should not be the case,” he said.
Hassan said President Uhuru Kenyatta seems to understand the important role and hierarchy of the Senate.
“All Heads of State were received by senators. This is a pointer the President appreciates the place of the senators in the political and power structure,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Nakuru Senator James Mungai, who said the 2010 Constitution is heavily borrowed from the US, but failed to understand why its powers have been watered down to the point that the Lower House looks more powerful.
“We are all in agreement that the Senate should not be any different from the one in the US, from which we have borrowed heavily,” he said.
