AJUOK: Senate now a House of hope for Kenyans

On July 3, just days after the Gen Z protests had shaken the nation to its core and left the capital city looking like a war zone, the Senate of the Republic of Kenya sat to debate a motion by Majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot.

The motion was a call to the country’s leadership to acknowledge that the issues around the protests, not just the Finance Bill 2024, but the whole state of the nation, were no longer matters to sweep under the carpet, but needed to be addressed.

In a bipartisan manner, contributors to the motion asked public servants, state agencies and ministries to exercise austerity measures, arrest corruption and stop the wealth-flaunting habit of many state officers.

Led by Speaker Amason Kingi, and displaying the sort of maturity and unity desperately needed by the nation after very difficult weeks, the Senate clearly demonstrated why it was the ‘upper house’, and in the words of the Speaker, “the house that goes to the grassroots”.

During the debate, senators couldn’t resist taking a dig at their National Assembly counterparts, whom they claimed were “hiding from the people”.

The July Senate session contrasted sharply with the events of June 25, when agitated young protesters breached security and entered Parliament Buildings, intending to set them on fire.

In images and soundbites that the country won’t forget in a hurry, MPs were still pushing through the Finance Bill 2024 on the floor of the National Assembly, as protesters brought down Parliament’s fence just metres away.

A fire did start but was extinguished although parts of the buildings were vandalised.

And this is a good point to discuss the evident ‘lack of ears’ that has been and continues to be a hallmark staining the National Assembly.

It still hasn’t occurred to the House that among the reasons leading to the invasion of Parliament by protesters in June was the growing perception that the House had become a mere appendage of the Executive, merely a rubber stamp for President William Ruto’s perceived unpopular executive agenda.

In his peace offering to the new generation of restless Kenyans, after the protests, President Ruto himself promised he would run a more responsive government, sensitive to the needs of the people, whereupon he withdrew the Finance Bill with all its taxes.

But within the legislature, only the Senate appears to have both internalised the lessons learnt, and quietly emerged as the voice of reason.

Ahead of President Ruto’s cancellation of the Adani deals last week, the Senate Transport and Energy committees had taken both Treasury CS John Mbadi and Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi to task, over the Indian conglomerate’s desire to take up PPP deals within the transport and energy sectors, but they were shrouded in mystery.

During these sittings, senators ignored the political party divide and, led Majority Whip Bonnie Khalwale and Deputy Minority Whip Edwin Sifuna, among others, they went for the CSs’ jugular.

While this was going on, the inter-house mediation process over the Division of Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2024 was reaching its peak.

The Bill, introduced in the National Assembly and passed on August 7 this year, provided the guidelines for the sharing of national revenue between the county governments and the national government.

Bizarrely, it sought to amend the Division of Revenue Act 2024, which President Ruto had already assented to in June, and which had sought to allocate an unprecedented Sh400 billion to counties, breaking the 400 billion ceiling for the first time.

When the amended version was sent back, the Senate predictably declared it would stick with the Sh400 billion milestone, while the National Assembly wanted to lower it to Sh380 billion.

Although subsequent mediation settled on Sh387 billion to break the impasse, once again, the Senate had acquitted itself admirably as the House most likely to push national interests.

The revenue allocation to counties is an annual sticking point in the country’s legislative business.

The drafters of the Constitution, as well as every presential candidate since, all agreed that strengthening devolution and neutralising the vicious scramble for state largesse, would work only if resources were increasingly channelled to the counties.

As the guardian angels of devolution, the Senate played a leading role in making this function a success.

In the early days of the current regime, the Senate or upper house, at least the majority side, appeared vulnerable to capture and manipulation by the Executive.

As time passed and the country crawled from one crisis to another, one got the feeling that the weight of responsibility is weighing heavily on the shoulders of senators, and even Kenya Kwanza hawks in that house feel a need to chart a path to benefit the nation, rather than bow to parochial political divisions.

Indeed, when it came to the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the Senate trial was conducted in an atmosphere of dignity, devoid of the lynch-mob atmosphere in the National Assembly.

Senators were clearly interested in establishing the facts, and hearing all sides and when the vote came, it was evident that on all 11 charges, the legislators were making independent decisions on each item.

Very few voted one way on all charges, regardless of which positions they had expressed during the debate.

It helps that the Senate has some of the best debaters and most articulate elected leaders in Kenya.

Leaders such as Senators Sifuna, Khalwale, Cheruiyot, Mohamed Chute, Enoch Wambua, Karungu Thang’wa, Hamida Kibwana, Chrystal Asige and Eddy Oketch, among others, represent some of the most forward-looking leaders in the country today.

How to turn this, at least in the short term, into a tool of true representation of the people’s socio-economic aspirations must be the bigger conversation around the legislative platform.

And this is quite important, be- cause in the bigger scheme of things, the general population is growing more enlightened and more alive by the day to the failures of leadership.

The June riots also brought home the reality of how social media has made mobilisation and public agitation so easy.

A new generation of leaders must therefore emerge and move away from political party fault lines and work for the population, no matter the consequences.

As it stands, I believe the Senate, even if not yet perfect, provides the perfect ground to build on in realising this dream. Perhaps there is even a compelling reason to declare that if Kenya’s Senate, with a mere 67 people, has fashioned itself as the house of action and conscious delivery, then it speaks to the exaggerated numbers in terms of representation, in the National Assembly. There is a consistent conversation in this country over whether we are ‘overrepresented- ed’.

The serenity and maturity of debates in the Senate, coupled with its ability to get things done, may finally convince many that the exceedingly numerous 349 Members of the National Assembly may be a drain on national resources, without necessarily delivering the desired legislative and pro-people effect.

Which is why I think it is now clear that the Senate carries the aspirations and desires of most Kenyans, without the pomp and colour of their counterparts in the other House.