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{
    "id": 1402665,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402665/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 164,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kavindu Muthama",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13733,
        "legal_name": "Agnes Kavindu Muthama",
        "slug": "agnes-kavindu-muthama"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to, first of all, congratulate Sen. Cherarkey, the Senator for Nandi, for bringing this Amendment Bill on the threshold by county assemblies to impeach CECMs. I would like Sen. Cherarkey and the committee that will deal with this Bill to establish how MCAs can be empowered in order to summon CECMs to county assemblies for questioning, just like we, Senators, summon Cabinet Secretaries here to question them. They only question CECMs at the committee level, which is not enough for them. Secondly, as we recommended the threshold to be two-thirds of MCAs, we should also think about a county assembly legislation to protect both CECMs, county assemblies and governors. For example, if Cabinet Secretaries do not deliver, all the blame goes to the President. Anybody who stands accuses the President, yet it is Cabinet Secretaries who are failing in their dockets where they are supposed to deliver. We should also look into that at the county level. Before a governor fails, CECMS will have failed because they are given dockets to assist. If it were possible for governors to deliver on their own at the county level, they would not have appointed CECMs. The same thing applies to the President and Cabinet Secretaries. Therefore, there is a gap somewhere, which should be looked into by this Senate, so that we streamline things. The MCAs in county assemblies are not doing their work of oversight of governors because they have no funds. Why has the Government not given MCAs a fund, so that they are independent? As long as they continue depending on governors to deliver in their wards, they will never perform oversight properly. To enable them to work, we must find a way for them to get direct money. When I was in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), we recommended that we have Kshs20 million go directly to enable them to do work in their wards, so that they are not at the mercy of governors. That would have enabled them to oversight governors properly without fear that there will be no development in their wards. If they do not have any developments in their wards, they risk being re-elected. As we protect counties as Senators, we should also protect MCAs as well because we are defenders of devolution. We should make sure that governors, MCAs and CECMs do what they are supposed to do. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I support but with those many amendments. Let us check from the top because if we only correct things at the county and not national level, we will not be doing anything. Sen. Cherarkey and Sen. Thang’wa should sit down, see where gaps are in this Bill, and make sure it flows from the Executive down to county assemblies. 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 and AudioServices, Senate."
}