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{
    "id": 1101991,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1101991/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 251,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo-Ayacko",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The national Government through those who oversight them such as the National Assembly will not have held public participation to know that the “grant” would be having a footing in that county. We end up with a situation where public resources are expended from the Ministries of Agriculture, Water, Lands or ICT for a project in Homa Bay County or Migori, where residents of those counties were not aware. They were not consulted and it was not in their plans. They may not know its importance or use of it. For example, in Kakrao Ward in Migori County, there is a monstrous polytechnic that was constructed by the national Government, but has no students. This is because there was no public participation involving members of the public from that ward, Suna East Constituency or from Migori County. It has no teaching staff. Persons purporting to be tutors there are expected to come from counties that were not involved at its inception. Members of the public were not involved in prioritizing it. That big project is lying there and yet public funds were expended on it. In our books, both the national Government and county government, it was purported to be beneficial to the people of Migori. Coming to Awendo where I was born, there is a grant that has been given to the people of Awendo that is supposed to be for urban projects. When one is at Awendo, there is a field where some projects that look like a park, mini stadium or some public thing, are going on. When one asks the people of Awendo when they agreed to that thing and what they intend to do with it and the benefit it will be to them, they do not know. I am suspicious and doubtful that they will utilize it well. However, that project in our national books is purportedly for the people of Awendo and for their benefit. There is no framework to oversight the project, how the contractor was identified and how much the contract is. The National Assembly will hold the national Government to account for funds that are directly used by the national Government. The county public funds will be oversighted by the Senate, pursuant to Article 96 of the Constitution. This grant is neither a national Government project because it is domiciled in counties nor a county project because it did not pass through the county planning and budget. Who oversights it? It is very dangerous to spend public money without a proper framework for oversight. We know that the counties need partnership and help from the national Government. That is important because we want more money for counties. However, when I began my presentation, I said that from the outset of democracy, it was about “no taxation without representation”. Taxes can never be spent or public project initiated without the participation of the people and involvement of their elected leaders. That is what this Bill intends to cure. The mischief that is resident here is perhaps the one that encourages the national Government to keep a lot of money and dole them out as grants. If the national Government was not responsible for projects in counties, it would not keep such monies. We even hear them trying to procure fertilizers and fingerlings for counties. How do they know about fish in Lake Victoria, the need for fertilizer in Kegonga in Kuria East Constituency, or the need for fertilizer and tobacco growing in Komosoko Nyamosese"
}