Fourth Senate Mashinani sittings kick off in Busia County

Senators during Senate Mashinani sitting at the Turkana County Assembly Chambers on September 27, 2023. [File, Standard] The Senate will hold its sittings in Busia County from Monday to Friday, which will be a change from its normal sittings held at the Parliament Buildings in Nairobi. According to the Senate Business Committee Chaired by Senate Speaker Amason Kingi the sittings, labelled 'Senate Mashinani' are meant to provide linkage between the national and county levels of government and enhance the interaction between the Senate and county governments. The Senate Business Committee`s decision to hold its sittings in Busia follows a resolution by the Senate made on March 8, 2023, to hold plenary and committee sittings in the counties for a one-week period within the month of September in every Session of the 4th Senate, except during an election year. "The Senate Mashinani is a means of bringing the Senate closer to the counties and the general public where the house intends to have its sittings in one county per year so that Kenyans can better understand the role of the house in supporting devolution," said Kingi. The House has lined up various legislative activities during the week besides the Plenary, Senators will conduct public participation for the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which seeks to enhance the Senate's legislative and oversight mandate. The House committees will conduct their sittings across the county, according residents an opportunity to actively engage and participate in the Senate legislative business the activities will include oversight visits to local development projects, inspection of government programmes and public forums where citizens, civil society and local officials interact directly with Senators. The County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC), one of the House watchdog Committee Chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang has scheduled sessions with Busia Governor Paul Otuoma and the leadership of the County Assembly touching on their financial statements for the 2023/24 financial year. The Senate Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee,Senate Committee on National Cohesion and Integration, Senate Committee on Education, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and Senate Trade, Industrialization and Tourism Committee will be having their sittings in the County. The Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee will carry out public participation on the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2025, while the Committee on Education will try to understand the status of implementation of the Early Childhood Development Education and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the County. The House Business Committee noted that there are several successes that have been realized as a result of holding the sittings outside Nairobi with earlier sittings being held in Uasin Gishu, Kitui Counties and Turkana Counties in 2018, 2019 and 2023 respectively while it was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic. The Clerk to the Senate Jeremiah Nyegenye said the objectives of such sittings is to promote the role and work of the Senate and enhance public awareness regarding the Business of the Senate and Parliament in general, to highlight existing and new opportunities for engagement in the legislative process besides developing and strengthening partnerships at the county level of government. "Senate Mashinani seeks to promote the work of the Senate and enhance public awareness regarding the Business of the Senate and Parliament in general, highlight existing and new opportunities for engagement in the legislative process, develop and strengthen partnerships at the county level of government and provide an opportunity to members and staff of county assemblies to learn and share best practices with Senators and parliamentary officers," said Nyegenye. The Senate had deferred its Senate Mashinani sitting that was to be held in Busia County in October last year until this year in what was said to be lack of funds to conduct the exercise following recommendations made by the Senate Business Committee. Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot said the greatest legacy will be resolving long-standing issues affecting residents and ensuring solutions are permanent where they have invited residents of Busia and Kenyans across the country to actively participate in the upcoming activities at the Busia County Assembly and other public engagement forums. "Ultimately, the initiative aims to foster deeper appreciation of the Senate's work, improve service delivery, and strengthen county and national government collaboration. It's a chance for ordinary people to step into the heart of governance and for leaders to be reminded who they truly serve," said Cheruiyot. Senator Majority Whip Boni Khalwale said that as a senior leader from the Luhyia community he was assuring Senators that Busia County was ready to host the entire Senate for an entire week and that they will have an opportunity to see the challenges of One Stop Border Post. "The One Stop Border Post has literally killed businesses because Busia is a border town, one area we used to make a lot of money was in clearing and forwarding, Senators will see for the first time how far ahead Kenya is in terms of rolling out health services because almost 45 per cent of patients at Busia County Hospital are from Uganda," said Khalwale. Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah said that it was an important experience for the Senate to go and sit in Busia Town and also visit the countryside since this will give them an opportunity to sample what this country has in that part of the world after which, they will understand the impact of politics of marginalisation on communities. "Busia County has facilities not available in the entire region with a good example being the prehistoric cave paintings in Kakapel that were done pre-historic to the textbook with Senators able to see that in Malaba and Busia with border crossing point in Busia that was gazetted years ago," said Omtatah. Senate Minority Whip Ledama ole Kina said it was imperative that Kenyans note that whenever they take the sittings of the Senate outside the precincts of Parliament, it is for Senators to be able to continue with the business on the Order Paper of the day, not to go there to engage with Members of County Assembly or engage the citizens. "A little fact that is not known about Busia is that it is home to the largest freshwater lake in East Africa, which is Lake Victoria, it is also important for them to appreciate the fact that they have been fighting for a very long time for the East African Community (EAC) to be actualized,"said Ledama.

Fourth Senate Mashinani sittings kick off in Busia County

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Fourth Senate Mashinani sittings kick off in Busia County

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