Busia county to host Senate Mashinani in September

Busia Governor Paul Otuoma. [File, Standard]

Busia county will host the fourth Senate Mashinani sittings in September.

The week long sittings will be conducted outside the traditional Parliament Buildings in Nairobi.

Senators will from September 23 to 27, 2024 hold plenary and committee sittings in the border town as well as summon some Cabinet Secretaries to answer questions.

Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye led a team of senior officials to the county Tuesday to assess the preparedness to host the sittings where they said they were satisfied with the ongoing plans to make the event a success.

“The Senate team has visited Busia county to assess key facilities including the Assembly chamber that will host both the plenary and committee sittings, I can say that we are satisfied with the level of preparedness to make Senate Mashinani a success,” said Nyegenye.

Governor Paul Otuoma said they are looking forward to host the Senate and expressed optimism that this will provide a platform to articulate issues concerning counties.

Dr Otuoma called on the Senate and counties to work together for the good of the citizens saying the senators oversight of counties should not be seen as adversarial relationship since they are all out to ensure that Kenyans get good services.

“We are privileged to host the Senate in September and look forward to a fruitful engagement where we will articulate several issues including the contentious revenue sharing formula among many other issues that affect counties,” he said.

Nyegenye explained that Senate Mashinani provides an opportunity for Kenyans to interact with their leaders at the grassroots level on various issues with a view of finding solutions to the same.

The Senate Clerk explained that during the sittings, senators will visit various projects in the county, hold public participation on various Bills before the Senate as well as interact with the residents.

He said that Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot and Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo will lead another delegation of House leadership to visit the county ahead of the Senate Mashinani.

The Senate Clerk revealed that they are looking forward to invite illustrious sons and daughters of the county including former Vice President Moody Awori, former MP Julia Ojiambo, former Butula MP Christine Mango and veteran politician Fred Gumo among others.

“We believe that this year’s Senate Mashinani will be better organised than the previous ones that we held in Kitui, Uasin Gishu and Turkana counties and look forward to visiting another county next year so that Kenyans can see how legislative work is conducted,” said Nyegenye.

The Senate team was received by the Busia County Assembly Speaker Fredrick Odilo and acting Clerk Gabriel Arambo who promised to ensure Senate Mashinani is successful.

This will be the fourth sitting of the Senate outside Nairobi. Last year, the Senate held sittings in Turkana county while Uasin Gishu and Kitui counties hosted the first and second Senate sittings in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Busia County Commissioner Chaunga Mwachaunga assured the Senate that the border town has the necessary facilities and equipment to host the sittings and his office will work to ensure everything goes according to plan.