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{
    "id": 1111587,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1111587/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 304,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "The discussion around the counties was such that if today we, as Kenyans, know that there is indeed no formula in coming up with 47 counties --- I remember that there was a proposal that the eight provinces become counties. When that proposal was given, the first brief that was received was from the military intelligence. They said we were going to court danger and will have one county called North Eastern with an elected governor with all the resources and neighbours. They also said that we will have another county bordering four countries. We will have Rift Valley that borders Tanzania to the south, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Sen. Murkomen is here. On top of all the resources the Rift Valley has, they have a bullets factory, an international airport and one political kingpin and the governor of Rift Valley might cut off Western and Nyanza if they decide to secede. We will have a county called Eastern with very different communities of interest from North Horr up there, which is 38,653 square kilometres. That is just one constituency but it is bigger that the former Nyanza and Western provinces. It is even bigger than Kitui County. It is like six Nairobi counties. They said this will be a threat in terms of security because of the possibility of people--- You remember after the elections, our brothers in the National Supper Alliance (NASA) led by Hon. Kaluma redrew the map of Kenya, asking the rest to be on side as they remain on the other. That was the first consideration. Then, there came the proposal of 74 counties from the former districts, which was easily dismissed. They said they will be too small for economic absorption which is the real reason for fiscal decentralization. There could not be any meaningful development with 74 governors running around the country. The final and more sensible one which was a victim of political considerations was to have16 counties. Each province that existed, except for Nairobi, would be divided into two, and Rift Valley into three. We would have had upper and lower Nyanza. That is Kisii and Nyamira on one side and the Luo Nyanza on the other side. That would include Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay and Siaya. We would have had South Rift, including Kajiado, Bomet and all that. Central Rift was the real contention and then North Rift. The people of Nakuru said there is no way they were going to be part of Eldoret. Let me not mention the communities. As they are, they would automatically become a minority. I remember having heated discussion with Hon. Mwangi Kiunjuri. Nairobi would remain as a county, but we would have had other 15 counties. Again, that was shot down. Because of the push and pull, a compromise position was to revert to the 1992 Act that described 47 districts. That is what we have in our Constitution. Some of the districts were also political. You cannot explain how Vihiga, which is almost like a path between Kisumu and Kakamega, was extracted to be a county. There are also many others but that is what we have today. Where we failed to get it right, which this Bill seeks to do, is that we defined the names. Of course, we used what is in that Act, but we never entrenched that in our Constitution. We are now using technology and a lot has changed. I like how Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. described. At that time, we would say that the boundary between this and that county was a river. Rivers have changed course. What"
}