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{
    "id": 1250781,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1250781/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 101,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have keenly followed the debate this afternoon. I also have a few things to say. One, I feel that we are being unfair to the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations, its Chairman and Members. While it is okay for Members to hold different views on the approach a particular Committee has taken on issues and matters that are before it, this matter has been with the Committee for hardly two weeks. Therefore, I feel we are being unfair to colleagues like Sen. Wambua and the rest that I have heard coming so heavy on the Committee. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations is not an ordinary Committee. I came to learn this during the last term when many of us were knocked out of what used to be considered then as prestigious Committees. I was dumped into the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations under the Chairmanship of Sen. M. Kajwang’. We did a lot of work. I learnt a lot under this Committee on the importance and place of devolution in this country. This is a matter that I do not wish our Committee to rush and gloss over. We were in this House last week when Sen. (Prof.) Tom Odhiambo Ojienda gave an erudite presentation on the place of county assemblies. He said we would be cheap as a House if we reduce this conflict to be just about money. It is not about money alone. It is not about the salaries of MCAs alone. There is more that we need to do as a House about this particular issue. I felt for a fact that is what the Chairman, Sen. Abass, was presenting before us this afternoon. We were listening to him and he said that as a Committee, they have scheduled meetings. I believe as a Committee, they can benefit a lot from the contributions that are being made by various Members. I listened to what Sen. (Dr.) Oburu thinks about the matter. I believe the Chair has noted. I am glad he agrees with me that we are being too critical of the Committee too early in the day. What we need to give them is our point of views. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for your information, there is nobody serving their second term and above in this House, who has a moral latitude on this issue of county assemblies. I say it to Sen. Wambua. We have failed as House, for the fact that up to now, we have never separated the accounts of the executive and assemblies in our counties. We have done nothing about it for the time that we have been in this House. We have failed. Therefore, we look up to this Committee, to help us resolve that particular impasse. Let us not be simplistic about it."
}