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{
    "id": 1445809,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1445809/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 203,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "project has already changed. For example, something that you had budgeted to build with about Kshs1.8 billion ends up costing about Kshs3 billion just because of dilly-dallying. It is imperative to note the success of the Senate in ensuring that there is an alternative arrangement to complete these projects. I hope that we can let this cut across all projects, which are co-funded by the county governments and the national Government. I am sure if you traverse this country of Kenya, albeit the challenges that we are dealing with at the moment, which are normal - in any democracy it is not strange for people to have divergent opinions - you will find projects particularly being done by this current administration. You will find industrial parks and stimulus programme markets that they say they are setting up. You will also find that those projects are co-sponsored by the county government and the national Government. However, all those projects will always end up stalling. One of my biggest concerns is that a project is designed and the cost is calculated. We then agree that the national Government is going to give about Kshs1.2 billion, for instance, but they do not give that money. The county government then proceeds and budgets for that money and then, if the certificates are issued and the contractors are paid, they will only complete the project to the level of payment. It is important that in future, what this Committee did can be done on all projects, which are co-funded by both the national Government and the county government. When I go to Narok there is a market called Ntulele Market, which over the last three or four months I have noted that there is a big fence that has been put up by the national Government. Its ownership is actually clear, seeking credit by saying that it is a stimulus project by the national Government. However, it has stalled. They went there, put up the fence and that is about it. Again, when you go to Narok, you will find an industrial park, which the national Government came and said that they will put up. They then built a fence up to this level with three or four courses and then abandoned it and took off. When are we going to have that discipline to say that we are starting a project and complete it? We do not want to waste time, where the county governments now come together and ask the Senate to help them finish those projects, and then we have to devise a system to put it in conditional grants. It is imperative to note the success of this project, learn something from it and ensure that we apply to other projects, which have continued stalling. We have a project in Kakamega County where the county government was building a hospital. They started building that hospital as a big Level V hospital, but it is now a huge white elephant project that can never be completed. It now gets to a point where they say they want to hand it over to the national Government to do it. Why should we be doing that? Where is this money that is kept aside somewhere by the national Government to handle all the failed projects? Why should we not prioritize? Currently, we are talking about bringing fiscal discipline into this country and ensure that we better services for Kenyans. Sen. Mandago, the fight out there is not that the Gen Zs wants to be President, Senators or Cabinet Secretaries. What they are saying is that they want services to be provided for them. They want roads built for them. There is no point of us saying that we have billions of shillings, yet we cannot finish even a single project. This is a wake-up call. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}