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{
    "id": 111033,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/111033/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 276,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 122,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
        "slug": "patrick-olweny"
    },
    "content": "weaker, that person is taking this country back to where it was. A strong Senate will help in controlling the powers of Mr. President. It will help to hold the President responsible and make him accountable to the people of this country. The idea of keeping away Members of Parliament from the Cabinet, in this document, as it is, is wonderful. It becomes very difficult for one to represent one’s people in Parliament while at the same time being in the Executive. Today we have some “thieves” who have been appointed by the Government, who are working in my constituency. It is so difficult for me to criticise the same Government that appointed these people since I am in that Government. Nobody listens to you just because we are in the same Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is good that this Draft Constitution provides that if a Member of Parliament or Senator is to be appointed a Cabinet Minister, he or she must resign as Member of Parliament or Member of the Senate. That is a major achievement that will take this country very far. Over the years, so many parts of this country have been economically marginalised. There have been lots of disparities in resource allocation in this country. For example, even today, the national Budget shows that a certain part of the country has been allocated a lot of money, while other parts of the country, some of which are experiencing serious water problems, have been allocated nothing. We have lived with these disparities since Independence. This disparity has lived with us since Independence. Those are the days the President would say s iasa mbaya maisha mbaya . “ Maisha mbaya” would mean you would be denied resources. Some parts of the country would be denied resources simply because they were not singing the tune of the powers that be. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Draft proposes that 15 per cent of the Government revenue will be devolved to the counties. That is too little. It will not take us where we want. Why are we leaving 85 per cent in Nairobi? What the hell is the President going to do with it? We want most of the money back in the villages. We have the example of the CDF where only 2.5 per cent of the revenue has been taken to the constituency and it has done a lot. In my constituency we had only nine secondary schools at the time I was elected for the first time at the beginning of 2003. Today, we have additional 16 secondary schools built using the CDF money. Today, women and youth in my constituency are contractors. This is work that would be done by contractors from Nairobi if we did not have the CDF. The CDF contracts them to do simple works like making drainages and clearing bushes along the roads. This is possible because we devolved that amount to the constituencies. We would be better off if a larger amount was devolved to the people. This is because the people are down there. It would be better if we had a good arrangement; a three-tier system namely the national, regional and counties to control the devolved funds. I would like to propose that the 15 per cent be raised to 35 per cent. Out of 35 per cent, we will give 20 per cent to the regional Government, ten per cent to the counties and five per cent to the constituencies. It defines very well the roles of the regions, the counties and how they will use the money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is the contentious issue of abortion. It is said very well here that life begins at conception. The life of an individual begins at fertilization. You know, the egg is not an individual. The sperm is also not an individual."
}