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{
    "id": 1423201,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1423201/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 79,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13581,
        "legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
        "slug": "methu-john-muhia"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I wind up, I also want to give my comment and opinion on the Petition that has been laid to the Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, and Special Fund, which is led by Sen. Wakili Sigei. In the architecture of the running of a county government, the Executive power lies with the governor. The principal assistant to that governor is the deputy governor. Article 34(4) of the County Government's Act gives the governor the prerogative of either assigning his deputy a role as a County Executive Committee Member or not. More often than not, as it has been pointed out in that Petition, when you are a first-term governor, you do not want to assign roles to your deputy governor so that your deputy governor does not seem to work very hard or outshine you. That way, he is not seen to be a competition to your office. Once upon a time, there was a Deputy Governor from a county that I know and that I come from, and he used to say, “the way this county has been operating, I have been reduced to a person who is equated to a spare wheel of a vehicle, and a spare wheel can never operate when the four wheels are operating.” He was saying “I am here waiting for either the governor to die, become bankrupt, or mad. If he will never become bankrupt, I shall be earning a salary for not doing anything.” Then we must also be careful so that we do not assign so many roles, as has been pointed out by Sen. Maanzo, the Senator of Makueni, such that he is not able to be the principal assistant to the governor. This matter must be looked into. We cannot relegate deputy governors to be flower girls and flower boys without anything to do. I am a Senator from Nyandarua County, I cannot tell what exactly the deputy governor of Nyandarua County does or how he earns his salary. You must work to earn. If you are not working, why are you earning? We cannot then leave it to the prerogative of the governor. We know that some of these political marriages are for convenience. It is not that I looked at my Deputy Governor and thought that he is a person with whom we could work together. It is for convenience. If he comes from the south, I come from the north; if we combine our votes, we shall win. After winning, we have no formula for how we shall work for our people. So, this is a matter that the JLAC must put their best foot forward. They must think through it, so that we can give justice to the deputy governors and we are able to help. When we were doing the Petition on the Removal of the Deputy Governor of Kisii County, you could tell that the governor and the deputy were not singing the same tune. The way these ‘political marriages” are formulated, there is no route for divorce. Once you engage in a “political marriage”, it is a five-year term. If you come back again, you shall have to stay with your Deputy Governor for another five years. We must ensure that these marriages work whether they want or not."
}