Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka has admitted that the Senate and the National Assembly don’t always get along, but it’s an understandable situation. Lusaka noted that in other countries, the two houses have a pull and push relationship, but it’s paramount, because they have to keep an eye on each other. The Senate Speaker was speaking at the Devolution Conference in Nairobi on Thursday. “We try to have a good working relationship but sometimes we differ,” he said.
He noted that there are Bills from the National Assembly which have to be forwarded to the Senate for scrutiny but they still haven’t received them. “The relationship between the two chambers is not too bad…sometimes we conflict sometimes we work well,” he said. The tough relations between the National Assembly and Senate were brought to the fore during the revenue allocation debate, with both house standing firm on their proposed allocation figures, in a drawn out impasse. However, the final figure was agreed upon and easing the burden on County governments as a result.
The Senate Speaker added that devolution is working, contrary to some notions. He said an outside party, serving as an extra eye must be stationed to look at devolution and its progress in the country.