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{
    "id": 1267083,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1267083/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 276,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "carry out the last mile exercise so that farmers can just simply walk to their shopping center, they will not need to hire a boda boda, they would carry the fertilizer on their backs. I hope that our colleague, Sen. Linturi, is listening to the conversation in the Senate this afternoon hearing that the concern that Senators have on behalf of farmers they represent. This is how you feed your people. I am saying this because I saw our colleagues from the Minority side saying that if we want them to stop causing the wanton destruction of property that they are carrying out in the country, we give people food. How else do you give people food? Food does not fall from the sky; it is cultivated in farms. This is why we are giving out this programme. This is why we are seated here and Sen. Munyi Mundigi is asking of the Ministry to execute this programme with military precision and ensure that every farmer receives the due bag of fertilizer to them, so that we can have a prosperous and well fed country. That is how people can work and not have to carry sufurias on their head. Mr. Speaker, Sir, lastly, is the Statement by Sen. Chute. This is an interesting one because I have the list of demands he has placed. It will be interesting to know where he collates this information. Since it relates to the information on about seven or six counties, on the various contractors that they hired or procured for good and services. However, the Controller of Budget only approves what counties have sent. I do not think we have a centralized place, but this will be interesting. I do not want to pre-empt the work that our colleagues in the Finance and Budget Committee will do. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to know where you would source or whether each county will individually file their own for comparison purposes. Nonetheless, it is important we get to know because the conversation should not be just about the northern frontier. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are very few contractors who when we began the devolution cycle in 2013 did business with county governments, that are still in active business simply by relying on county governments alone. Many have either left that trade or switched on to do other things. In fact, I heard some people saying that working or doing business with county governments should be included in the one of the a thousand ways to die in this country because you can wait for your payment for many years. Many Kenyans have been auctioned because of doing or plying their trade with county governments. For those that did business in the last financial year before elections, you will be lucky if the next administration moves on to pay you. Therefore, we must have safeguards. I know Sen. Mariam Omar had proposed to us the Prompt Payment Bill and many of us held different views. I saw the response from the Committee on Finance and Budget about the challenges that we will have with implementation. However, we must still be able to address this particular issue of payment to contractors across the Nation. The fact that I did work in Kilifi County under the governorship of Amason Jeffa Kingi, does not mean that when the new governor comes into office, that I am denied an opportunity to be paid. This is the problem that is prominent in all our 47 devolved units and many contractors continue to suffer."
}