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{
    "id": 584361,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/584361/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 369,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, two-and-half years down the road towards implementation of devolution, we are yet to find stability in our counties. Looking at the rate in which petitions have come to this House in recent times, it is a clear pointer or indicator that there are real issues in counties which remain unresolved. Trying to develop such good steps will help local communities to get an opportunity to present their views or petitions to Members of the County Assemblies (MCA) who are within their reach. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, quite a number of times, communities have raised issues that relate to the inability of county executives to incorporate their views either in the County Integrated Development Plan or in the budget-making process. There has been no avenue for the local communities to question this. Fortunately, we now have an opportunity and a procedure established for MCAs to receive these complaints or petitions and we will hear more of them. The most important thing is to check whether the issues that had remained unresolved in the counties are resolved through this. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, time and again, questions on equity in terms of resource distribution and employment have come to the fore. This will give an opportunity to the local communities to come out very clearly and hold county executives accountable. Looking at what had happened, in our case, we were trying to look at the County Development Board but county governors took us to court and up to date, it remains unresolved. There is an opportunity for a leaders’ forum in our County Government’s Act which has not been operationalized to date. Communities, political leaders and all stakeholders at county levels have issues but there are no avenues to solve them at the local level. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the question of transparency and accountability at the county level is low. As much as state agencies including the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Auditor-General have tried their best to stop the menace at our counties nothing much has been achieved. Therefore, I anticipate and have a feeling that this opportunity of petitioning at county assembly level will provide a more re indepth understanding of what goes on in the counties. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a few minutes ago, you spoke about building the capacity of county assemblies by allocating them enough resources. The ability to interrogate county executives is not there in the county assemblies. They have become an appendage of the executive. It is important that they understand their roles properly because they are the watchdogs and the people who are supposed to do oversight at the local level. They should understand that they are in the first line of support to the local communities with regard to reaching their aspirations. We need to do a lot more for the county assemblies so that they understand what their roles are. It is not about the education alone, it is about expertise and building experience over time. The flow of petitions in recent times has been a lot. Now that we are talking about establishing a procedure for doing this at the local level, we will need to create an opportunity through Messages to or from the Senate, for us to monitor or look at the number of petitions that have come to the county assemblies and whether they have been attended to or whether they are touching on issues that will help improve our county The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}