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{
"id": 1074794,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1074794/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
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"speaker": {
"id": 407,
"legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
"slug": "ledama-olekina"
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"content": "There are a few things that I want to point out here. Although I support the elevation of Nakuru Municipality to a city, it comes with great expectations. We expect more things to come out of that county where we hope that with more taxation expected to be charged to the people, there will be more public participation so that people will know what they are paying for. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have gone through the Report and one of the things that excites me is that fact that this Senate is the only House of Parliament that elevates municipalities into cities. I hope that when we do this during our time here, we will not only do Nakuru but Eldoret and hopefully Kiambu. I say this because of the revenue that comes in. As you know, one of the prerequisites is that the municipality must demonstrate the ability to collect more revenue to support itself. When you look at the population of Nakuru, it is over 367,000 people and the required is only 250,000 people. That tells you that Nakuru Municipality has the potential to generate more revenue and create more employment for the people of that town. I hope that the County Governor of Nakuru, Hon. Lee Kinyanjui, and other governors who will come in after him will use technology to generate more resources. There is no reason why the current Governor, Hon. Kinyanjui, should not go through the spatial plan of Nakuru Municipality and ensure that every business that operates in the town can pay taxes. Where certain businesses operate without paying taxes or license fees, when they have to renew their permits, business licenses or annual fees, they are all intertwined such that that revenue can be collected. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for us in Rift Valley, this has been long time coming. I hope that other municipalities like Eldoret will follow suit because that will see us stop wasting our time going to Mombasa or Kisumu to carry out services, even for this Senate, but by just going to Nakuru. In fact, it is something that will excite most Members of Parliament and Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) because their per diem will slightly go higher. I hope that the county governor will devise new mechanisms to enhance their garbage collection system so that they can generate power, recycle it, sell and generate more revenue for the city. Mr. Speaker, Sir, from the Report, I am aware that there was proof of a lot of public sensitisation on what is expected of any municipality that is going to be confirmed into becoming a city. However, I want to emphasise that the MCAs of Nakuru County must spend most of their time enlightening or educating their citizens that now that they are becoming a city, there is a lot that will come, some will not be good and you must be prepared to know how to deal with it. It is true that when you look at Nairobi as a City, there is a lot of insecurity in certain parts. That will not leave Nakuru once it becomes a city. There will be a lot of more traffic and more money going to Nakuru. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the planning of Nakuru has to be taken into consideration. I would request that instead of people going to benchmark all over, they can go to Rwanda and see how Kigali has been elevated into one of the best cities in the world; a very clean city. I hope that with elevation of Nakuru Municipality into becoming a city, it will become much cleaner."
}