Senate; house of sober second thought

Parliament’s upper house, the Senate, has attracted criticism and ridicule for quite sometimes including the recent proposal by Budget and Appropriation Committee which called for outright abolition of the Upper House.

The Senate was established by the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and was meant to serve various functions which includes; to safeguard the interests of counties and their governments, to participate in the legislation functions of the parliament (examines, deliberates and approves bills concerning counties), to determine the allocation of national revenue among counties and exercise oversight over national revenue allocated to the county governments.

Senate was also established and bestowed power to consider impeachment trials and power removal of state officers such as the president, deputy president and county governors.

Senate has made notable contributions since the establishment of bicameralism by our constitution. For instance, Senators have initiated and passed significant bills.

The Senate has also managed to summon and tried various governors on allegations made against them by Members of County Assemblies.

In addition, Senate is an important House which can serve as a body of technical review i.e. revising bills, scrutinizing constitutional amendments and eliminating intemperate legislations passed by the National Assembly. John A. Macdonald observed the Senate as a body that would provide “sober second thought” and thus a check on possible rash decisions made by the Lower House.

We need to consider reforms for the Senate rather than scrapping it. For decades Canada has also been deliberating on whether to abolish or reform its Senate but many people have proposed reforms.

United States, Germany and Australia did reforms for their Senates to be effective and even us we can. One of the vital reforms needed to be considered is the power of the House which can be redefined in two ways.

 First is the Power to Confirm. Like the U.S Senate, the power to confirm presidential appointments to such positions as the cabinet, Supreme Court, all ambassadorial positions and other executive branch positions should be conferred to the Senate.

The second is the Ratification of Treaties. The Upper House should be given constitutional power to approve by treaties made by the executive branch. This power will give the Senate an exceptional role in foreign policy.

A reformed upper house can contribute to the effective functioning of our parliament and political system.