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{
"id": 110709,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/110709/?format=api",
"text_counter": 399,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kosgei",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Higher Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 13,
"legal_name": "Lucas Kipkosgei Chepkitony",
"slug": "lucas-chepkitony"
},
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when Kenyans said that they wanted a new Constitution all these years, their desire was mainly centred on demystifying the presidency. In other words, we constantly said that we did not want a President who was altogether too powerful and who could do whatever they wanted. We have now gone round, have argued, discussed at Naivasha and in this House and even through various caucuses. We have come down to a presidency which we support. However, in order for this not to be an imperial presidency, we must be very serious about checks and balances. We have constantly spoken about the Senate and watered it down. We constantly said that we want one centre of power and not two centres of power. Fair enough! The Draft Constitution provides for one centre of power which I support, but in order for us to remove the fear from Kenyans that a member of oneâs community must be the President for one to access anything, we have to look at the checks and balances so that whoever becomes the President of Kenya tomorrow, does not distribute resources as he or she wishes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the devolution process that we have talked about was, furthermore, to remove the fear of having one person at the centre of power. This concept of devolution was very much misunderstood. During the referendum in 2005, it was thought to be a way of bringing back the Majimbo of Lancaster House, which, unfortunately, was âmurderedâ in 1964. The devolution we speak of is that of sharing power in some way in order to give people the opportunity to participate in the governance of their country. If we feel that creating more regions will bring more divisions in our country, then we can reject it. What I feel, which is what other people also feel, is that since we already have eight provinces, why do we not stay with them? The Draft Constitution, I think in Article 17 of the sunset Articles says that the current Provincial Administration will be re-organised to manage those provinces in a devolved manner. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we look at that provision more soberly, I do not see why the existing eight provinces, which have never threatened us, should threaten us now. The reason as to why we resented the retaining of these provinces at the beginning had to do with the fact that they degenerated into an arm of one office. They also became areas where we went to discuss security rather than what happens to the resources and how to devolve those resources. As some people have said, we do not want to create new centres that will have more bureaucracy. In this particular case, in limiting ourselves to the regions that we already have, with the structures we have, we can move further. However, devolution is only part of it. What we must really think about seriously is, if we do not want the regions that we suggested--- In Naivasha we came up with 18 regions. We listened to all of you and other people who said: âThese regions will divide the people. Please, bring back the counties as they were in Bomas.â"
}