HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1423195,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1423195/?format=api",
"text_counter": 73,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13590,
"legal_name": "Murungi Kathuri",
"slug": "murungi-kathuri"
},
"content": "What does that tell you, Mr. Speaker, Sir? This shows that the deputy governor is subject to the order of office. Once they join the executive and the governor, the first thing that the governors do is to make sure that the deputy governor is left just to the galleries, to read the newspapers and not even attend cabinet meetings, yet he is an executive member. Since I have interacted with these deputy governors, I will be proposing an amendment to this Act, to give them some powers, so that when working, they can be part of the system. We have gone to pre-publication scrutiny, and I will be advising the Senate on my proposals for the county governors in the next few days. In some counties, for example, Meru County, the first governor, from 2013 to 2017 did not work closely with the deputy governor. However, when Gov. Kiraitu Murungi became the Governor from 2017 to 2022, the deputy governor was a CECM for Finance. They worked so closely for five years and did their best. Even though they lost elections, I cannot say this was because they did not work together. It was other issues maybe within the community. However, that is a classic example of how a governor can trust his deputy even in the position of CECM for finance. Therefore, I was surprised that Sen. Maanzo said the CECM for Finance in Makueni was given a lot of work to do by the governor, which I do not think so. Deputy governors are as equal to the task as the governor is. So, there is no task that is so difficult for them. Therefore, this Senate should come up with concrete proposals that will ring-fence the office of the governor and the office of the deputy governor moving forward. I was also interested in the Statement by Sen. Kavindu on the reopening of schools. Schools were opened yesterday, but as the situation is, still students are in dilapidated classrooms. Some schools are already submerged, while others have no classrooms and desks. I do not know whether the Government has come up with the statistics to show which schools are functional and which are not. I ask the Cabinet Secretary for Education and the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury to come up with a very fast supplementary budget, so that these institutions can be supported with finances. The Members of the National Assembly should realign their National Government-Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) priorities and work on the schools that have issues so that the schools can learn properly. In addition, the county governments have an obligation to rearrange their budgets, so that they can come up with supplementary budgets, which will be able to do the small bridges, which have been severed, and the small roads connecting to schools, so that everybody can get involved. It is only that the House has no capacity to allocate resources. If we had that capacity, this afternoon we could not be doing anything else, but allocate money across all the schools. Maybe in the future, this will be regarded as the “Upper” House, which will be able to make such decisions as this. Thank you very much."
}