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{
    "id": 695139,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/695139/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1270,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The county interim financial management Act which created an elaborate regime for transitional mechanisms of Public Finance Management, was supposed to ensure that when governors come into office, assets would be safe. A lot of assets could not be accounted for. The then county interim financial management Act created framework whereby the money which was supposed to ensure that governors come into the office was utilized in a proper and structured manner. It is this money which eventually went to the renovation of the Governor’s office and other critical expenditures at that time. It is important to emphasize that at this time we were at the initial stages of the implementation of devolution and there were challenges. Devolution cannot succeed if not properly implemented. The solution is not to impeach the Governor but creating systems and structures that must work. For instance, if we impeach the Governor on the ground that he has undermined the authority of the County Assembly, and then the issues that resulted in the budget stalemate are not addressed, it will lead to more and more paralysis in the County Government of Nyeri. It is not a solution at all. The better solution is for the two parties to sit down, because we are at a critical stage of the implementation of devolution where these issues must be addressed through mechanisms which have been laid down in law and the Constitution. On the question of whether the last allegation which is failure to comply with the law, I have been consistent in our submissions that there are three charges which the Governor is facing before this Senate. Two charges are founded in Article 181; the one on gross violation, misconduct and abuse of office. If you read Article 181 they are clearly mentioned. The other allegation is on gross violation of the Constitution and law. Again, if you look at the provision of Article 181, that allegation is unavailable. Does this charge known as failure to comply with the law exist in Article 181? It is not there. There is no charge known as failure to comply with the law for which the Governor is being called to defend himself. If it was failure to comply with the law, you could have said, gross violation of the law. Why do you say it is failure to comply with the law yet, that charge is unavailable under Article 181 of the Constitution. I am happy that a former Judge that has appeared before this Senate and I really hold him in high esteem in terms of understanding the legal framework governing these issues. In this case, he would ask: Whether we could come up with an impeachment charge where it is not founded in the Constitution? Finally, I state that devolution cannot succeed without six fundamental factors. It is now emerging that six fundamental factors are not even enough. They are: (1) Adequate resources; (2) Public participation; (3) Ethics and governance in the management of public resources; (4) Adequate human resource such as skilled personnel to ensure that the structures and devolution works at the county level. It is now emerging that the other issues we need for devolution to succeed and specifically for the County of Nyeri, in terms of interpersonal relationship, is to ensure that there is close working relationship between the county executive and the county government. There are certain weaknesses that may precipitate some of these stalemates. For instance, in the budget making process there is a provision in the Public Finance Management Regulations which seems to give 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."
}