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{
    "id": 1166038,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1166038/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "These are the kind of shifts that we need to look at. We seem to have over- devolved. I heard Sen. Sakaja giving an example that even the money for equitable share can only go for recurrent expenditure. It is true that this country has moved from development surplus to a recurrent deficit. Currently, we are borrowing Kshs800 billion to finance recurrent expenditure. That is why you find even the budget for the second quarter is yet to be availed to all the Ministries, departments and agencies, including Parliament. It is becoming very difficult to access the Exchequer. This can only change when we refocus our development. We also must agree as a House of reason - as a Senate - that we over-devolved. Forty-Seven devolved units was way too much and most of them are not economically viable. For instance, if you look at transnational infrastructure and the ecosystems that transcend the boundaries of a county, they go along the tribal lines that were demarcated to suit political and colonial ends, if you go further down history. You cannot therefore say that a county like Lamu would not need Tana River County for it to survive economically. You cannot say Isiolo County would not need to cooperate with Meru County to survive economically. All the counties in Mt. Kenya region require one another because they have the same people with similar culture and economic engagements. Therefore, these economic development models are critical. They mimic what is happening at the continental level, where you have regional economic blocs such as East African Community (EAC) that is now a seven-member state with a huge market in Congo of about 150 million people. The same applies for Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). That is the future. You can see the way Britain was affected when they left the European Union (EU). They got respite from the former President of United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, to reduce their balance of payment deficits. Therefore, counties have to associate."
}