Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has assured the Senate of his full support in empowering the House with proper powers and responsibilities to effectively entrench and protect devolution in the country.
While addressing the media after a closed-door kamukunji with the Senators, the former Prime Minister hailed the Senate for discharging its tripartite role and called for the august House to be properly empowered akin to the Senate of the United States of America.
“Our Senate should work just like the Senate of the United States of America. We need to give it proper powers and responsibilities just like the National Assembly,” said Odinga.
He urged the Senate to be innovative in coming up with legislation that empowers the youth in diverse areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) since they can be a catalyst for growth if empowered.
Odinga argued that since our vision as a country is that plenty be found within our borders, as clearly expressed in our National Anthem, the plenty must be created by the people of Kenya.
“In a successful country, the constitution is a vehicle that helps a country to achieve its vision. One of our vision is that plenty be found within our borders. The plenty has not been found; it must be created by the people of Kenya,” the former Prime Minister said.
He added that at independence, Kenya, Ghana and South Korea were at par in terms of the major economic indicators and sixty-two years later, South Korea’s economy is over 40 times bigger than ourselves but the youth can change the tide.
“The youth can help us leapfrog and catch up with South Korea since they have got new tools like artificial intelligence (AI). We just need to empower them,” he said.
