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{
"id": 1381438,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1381438/?format=api",
"text_counter": 232,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I can say without fear of contradiction that one of the soft underbellies in the growth of our economy has always been the high wage bill. What is choking counties such as Meru County, is the high wage bill. For example, in Nandi County, out of Kshs7.5 billion in the last financial year 2020/2023, a huge junk of the money went to the wage bill. If we are not careful, we are going to turn our counties into employment bureaus. There has been a soft underbelly in this country where there has been a feeling that some communities are dominating the public services. Nonetheless, when you look at Article 232, we must show the diverse community representation in Kenya, ensuring that we have that reflection. What we are trying to do with this Bill is to present annual reports of human resource compilations from all state organs and county governments through county-to- county assemblies and the Parliament of the Republic of Kenya. When I say Parliament, under Article 93, it means both the National Assembly and Senate. They must present human resource reports. Therefore, that is why we are amending this Bill by bringing in authorised officers, which means any officer appointed within the Public Service or service is to be delegated. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to redefine, it is the President and the Deputy of the company. Those people who hold the highest governance within that level. Therefore, the intention is to enable us to know how many people are in the Public Service. There have been audits of the Public Service by the Office of the Auditor-General on several occasions. The intent of this amendment is straight and is to ensure that we reflect the diverse communities and look also into gender, race, ethnicity and whether we have People Living with Disability (PWDs). I want my colleagues to get this, the reason we want those reports to be coming to the Senate is to ensure that we can oversight. You can come and question the universities, counties and state organs, so that we know and do not depend on National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC). When the NCIC is doing their report, they should table it so that we can do our oversight role. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, it concerns counties as much as I know, and I can give examples. I will use the next five minutes so that my colleagues can have the opportunity to contribute too. For instance, there was a report by the Auditor-General in the year 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, on how universities employed their workers by ethnic composition. For example, the Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology had 556 workers. The workers from the dominant tribe in the county were 372. That means, 66.9 per cent of workers at Dedan Kimathi University came from the local community. Under the National Cohesion and Integration Act, there is 30 per cent threshold. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us pick another example like in your county, the Meru University of Science and Technology. The number of workers is 403. Workers from the dominant community, the Njuri Ncheke and the rest are 265 and that is 67 per cent. Therefore, we should be shown that they should be 30 per cent. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}