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{
    "id": 1238118,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1238118/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the report. I am a Member of that Committee. I led the team to Tharaka Nithi. I thank Sen. Gataya Mo Fire for raising this issue. It is a shame that we are in the eleventh year of devolution and there is a county assembly that does not have premises because of the ping pong between institutions. At the national Government, there is the EACC and Controller of Budget. The county government raised concern by not factoring the monies to build the County Assembly of Tharaka Nithi. It also raised another issue that the Senate needs to address. We need to amend the Intergovernmental Relations Act to give financial autonomy to county assemblies. If the budget for building Tharaka Nithi County premises was within the Tharaka Nithi County Assembly budget, the Assembly would have been built. However, this had to be channeled through the county executive, the governor’s hands were tied. He felt from the letter of EACC to Controller of Budget, he could not factor this money within the budget. As a result, the County Assembly of Tharaka Nithi was held at ransom. Even as we get the Committee to address this issue and agree on how to move forward, we also, as the Senate, need to ensure that county assemblies get financial autonomy. County Assemblies have become puppets of governors because they are dependent on them for their financial needs. There is the second issue of headquarters. The Tharaka Nithi headquarters is suffering because the Ministry of Public Works decided to carry out the project by itself. As a result, it has been extremely slow. A lot of money has been spent and that project is not yet over. That is what the national Government needs to give Conditional Grants to county governments to build their own headquarters. We are told that it is the same case in six other county governments that were supposed to have their headquarters built for them. So, this is an issue that the Senate needs to look into to ensure that the funds required for the building of those headquarters, which are not yet done, are passed on as Conditional Grants and given to county assemblies so that they can fast-track them. It is so sad that Tharaka Nithi designated its headquarters and 11 years later, the people are operating from another town because they do not have the facilities. I support."
}