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{
    "id": 1431555,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1431555/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 3911,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna West, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Masara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I take this opportunity to congratulate Members of the National Assembly and the Senate who mediated this Bill. As a country, the only thing after Independence that we can celebrate is the 2010 Constitution, which established county governments. I am happy to have been a Member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the 12th Parliament. We audited the Government books of accounts to an extent where counties could get funds based on the audit on the 2020/2021 Financial Year. By the time we got to the 12th Parliament, the audited accounts were for the 2013/2014 Financial Year. In retrospect, is devolution working for us; are we getting value for money appropriated to the county governments? In my opinion, without fear of contradiction, I believe that devolution is still not working for us due to governance issues. I have extensive experience in county government governance, having served as the last Mayor of the Municipal Council of Migori. During that time, we would receive very little funds through the Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF) yet citizens could see the amount of work done. Currently, with over Ksh400 billion allocated to the counties, there is nothing to show for it. In contrast, the impact of the NG-CDF is evident. While I am a supporter of devolution, I firmly believe that as a country, we need to take action. We should enact legislation through Parliament to ensure that the public receives value for the funds allocated to county governments. The main question is, what is the role of the Controller of Budget? Is this office effective? We must empower the Auditor-General so that the Ksh400 billion allocated to the counties can be audited. This will ensure that we get value for our money. My proposal is that Members of the County Assembly (MCAs), whose role is to oversee the governors should have a Ward Development Fund. We need to create this Fund so that after we have allocated money to counties, each ward can get its share of this budget. It should not be that only MCAs who ‘worship’ governors get projects while the rest do not benefit. For example, if an MCA speaks about an evil a governor has done he is blacklisted. Therefore, moving forward, I suggest that the Ward Development Fund should be put in place. We must also budget for the Auditor- General to carry out audit for counties. Furthermore, as a country, we need to do things in a way that the public sees the benefits of projects done by county governments. In some counties, you find a project of an ECD classroom done at Ksh600,000 being launched with 100 staff of the county government in attendance and 20 vehicles. It means that the money spent on the launch exceeds the money used on the project. This must stop. As we tax people, they should get benefits so that as taxes are increased they do not complain. My proposal is that it is over 10 years since the inception of devolution. We must re-check what needs to be done so that we can improve on the quality of services our people get from the money allocated to the county governments. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. May God bless you."
}