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{
    "id": 807255,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/807255/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 216,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Nuh",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2840,
        "legal_name": "Junet Sheikh Nuh",
        "slug": "junet-sheikh-nuh"
    },
    "content": "Yet, they call for a conference every year just to talk about the good things devolution has done. They say they have put murram on several kilometers of roads and devolution is working. Where is devolution working? We have not given ourselves devolution so that we can create 47 billionaires. We brought devolution so the ordinary citizens can benefit from it. Why can the Senate not hold them accountable? After all, they are in place for the interest of counties. They do not have any other business. Which other business does the Senate have in this country other than taking care of the interest of counties? We saw them inviting the Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security and Coordination of National Government the other day. I saw them talking about some transnational road to Cameron, Uganda and Tanzania. What business does a Senator have to do with this? He does not allocate that Ministry any money yet, he is discussing Kenya Airways (KQ) and cattle rustling. These are matters of the national Government. They were put in place to make sure the interests of the counties are taken care of. One of the things they can take care of is to hold county governments accountable so that they can deliver to the people of this country. Today, if you do a survey, 60 or 70 per cent of Kenyans are not happy with the services being provided by different county governments. Somebody should not mistake me for not wanting a certain governor. I am speaking here as a Member of Parliament who takes care of the interest of all Kenyans. To conclude my submission, I think the Senate is not being truthful to us. If they want the National Assembly to support this kind of Bill in the next financial year, the Senate must tell Parliament how many governors and county governments they have held accountable. The county governments have now stopped collecting revenues. They have completely stopped. They just want money to be sent from Nairobi. Some county governments were collecting billions of shillings when they were local authorities. I am told that those monies are now going to private accounts. Just because you are going to receive Kshs10 billion from the National Treasury, you do not need to account for the money you collect at the county level. Today I am speaking like this because of the love I have for devolution. Our country needs to develop. In developed democracies the world over, it is the devolved units that have brought that kind of development. Examples are Japan and Germany and many other developed countries. Development was achieved after devolution. We sat down as a country and realised that we need to devolve ourselves. We devolved both power and resources. One of the most powerful people in this country today is the county governor. Some county governors have between 20 and 30 bodyguards and different kinds of houses. Their first ladies have vehicles with sirens. If we continue that way, we will be wasting Kshs400 billion every year. Since devolution began, the amount of money that has been devolved is over a trillion shillings. A trillion shillings is a lot of money. My contribution is that we should hold the county governments accountable. This is a warning to the Senate. If they are not going to tell us how they have held governors accountable, in the next financial year, we will pass the County Allocation of Revenue Bill just like it is now. There will be a problem."
}