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{
"id": 1418084,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1418084/?format=api",
"text_counter": 142,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
"speaker": null,
"content": "that are faced by those RDAs are adequately addressed in the Bill before it becomes an Act of Parliament. One of the challenges we are facing in this country with RDAs is inadequate funding. Normally, those authorities are supposed to serve the development needs of this country. That means you need both a recurrent and a development budget. But over time, because of inadequacies of funding, you realise that the recurrent budget is provided and, in most cases, a very minimal budget for development. So they do not end up serving the purposes for which they were created. We must provide resources for those important authorities so that, other than just paying salaries, they go that extra mile to ensure that development is also implemented in this country through them. Some of them play key roles, such as the water authorities. Water is a major problem in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of this country. If those authorities had been effective and efficient, they would have done a lot in sorting out that matter. From where I sit, one of the reasons why I am supporting this Bill is to have a financial framework to make sure that they are adequately funded. The other matter that is critical and keeps coming up every time we sit is the issue of duplication of roles at two levels: both at the national and the county level. Some of the functions being performed by those RDAs are duplicated. You will find that they are doing almost the same thing, and it is not clear where one should stop and where the other should start. One of the things that should be sorted out in this Bill is to ensure that each of the RDA that will be retained after restructuring has a very clear mandate. About two weeks ago, we visited my constituency, where we have the Tana and Athi River Development Authority (TARDA) and the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority (NWHSA). One of the dams that we have there, Kalundu, was done by NWHSA but, after completing the implementation, there was no proper handing over of that dam to TARDA, the local authority that is covering our area. Because of that lack of proper handing over, that dam currently is not serving the purpose for which it was intended - small-scale irrigation. The river is now polluted. So, one of the areas we must address is ensuring that even at the national level, we do not overlap functions. In that case, then we will serve specific functions and help Kenyans. The other level is of the overlap of functions between the county and the national Government. Most of the functions that are being performed by those RDAs, like water, are devolved. It is not clear what the county governments and the RDAs need to do and at what point they need to work together as they do the same functions. With that confusion, they will always have conflict as the county governments will be complaining that the RDAs are taking over their roles. So, through this Bill, we must make sure that we come out clearly in terms of what belongs to the county governments and the RDAs. In that case, the conflicts will be minimised. The county governments also argue - and it makes sense - that the reason why they are not getting equitable sharing of resources is that some of the money that should be with them is allocated to Nairobi to take care of functions that are already devolved. If we were very clear in terms of what is devolved and what is not, then county governments would get more resources from the national Government without adding any resources in terms of revenue collection. Those are some of the critical issues that we need to address as a country. The other issue is the administrative framework. In most cases, those RDAs have been used as employment bureaus. The politicians, us included, see those bodies as a way of creating employment for our supporters. Any time you visit them and look at the board composition and who is employed there, you will find that there is a very close alignment of the Cabinet Secretary with the people working there or the boards that are managing the RDAs. In that case, we lose focus on the competencies of the people who are managing them. That is why the other day, you heard the Hon. Deputy Leader of the Majority Party wishing that the people from the Coast manage the Coast Development Authority (CDA). That is confirmation that we are thinking of areas where we can create jobs for our people, which is not the right way. As The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}