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{
    "id": 1127003,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1127003/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 482,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kinangop, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Zachary Thuku",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13380,
        "legal_name": "Zachary Kwenya Thuku",
        "slug": "zachary-kwenya-thuku"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to add my voice on the County Governments Grants Bill. I believe it is a Bill whose time has come. We have seen attempts by the national Government, to some extent, to dictate the programmes that should be run by county governments. This has happened to the extent that county governments seem to be signing coerced agreements without much support of the law, where they cannot defend much. Let me give examples. We have had a situation and the colleague who spoke earlier, Hon. Ochieng’, alluded to this fact, in the issue of the Managed Equipment Scheme (MES), where the national Government declared that they would procure goods and distribute them as conditional grants to county governments. We saw every attempt to have a figure assigned to the said agreements. Later, the same became a big issue, because it was not just a grant, but a loan. The county governments were required to foot the bill as much as there was no approval. There was no public participation and there was no approval by county assemblies. This Bill seems to cure that because for any agreement to be entered into, especially where the national Government attempts to put money in conditional grants, it is clearly stipulated here that there must be concurrence with the county assembly. I am careful to say that maybe we will need to amend Clause 91(4)(a) where it is expressly stated that in case county assemblies do not approve or do not consider the same within 14 days, the agreement would be deemed to have been passed. To some extent, that strips the county assembly of its powers. If the county assembly is on recess and the Speaker does not call for a special sitting within 14 days and they do not consider the same, it would be deemed to have been passed. That is a mischief that can be passed by governors, especially where they have interest. We also saw the same happening in the Ministry of Agriculture, where they procured milk cooling plants for county governments. It was a conditional grant, but, of course, without the consent of county governments."
}