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{
    "id": 1451643,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1451643/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 255,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I want to start by thanking the Committee and all the Members for the good work. This is the second Report that we are debating from this Committee. This Report is specifically for constituencies in Bungoma County. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the approach of looking at one county and all the constituencies under it, in terms of looking at how the NG-CDF funds have been spent, is very good. This is because neighbouring constituencies have a lot of things to share. As I listened to the Mover, I could not stop thinking about what happened in the Senate about two weeks ago, when they were debating the NG-CDF. As I watched the Senators discuss this matter, I saw a lot of ignorance in terms of what the NG-CDF does in different parts of this country. I could see people debating from a position of lack of information. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we have amended the original CDF Act many times. We have even amended the NG- CDF Act about three times since its enactment. Members of Parliament used to be patrons of the original CDF. There was provision for what we used to call Oversight Committee. The Member was the chairperson and was expected to nominate four members so that they could oversee the operations of the NG-CDF. However, in the latest amendment, we did away with the Oversight Committee. As we speak, the Member of Parliament just oversees the NG-CDF as he does with all other national Government projects. The Committee on Special Programmes should bring out these matters clearly so that those Kenyans who are ignorant on the latest amendment of the NG-CDF Act can understand. When it comes to the NG-CDF matters, it is the Board which oversees the implementation on a day-to-day basis. The only time a Member of Parliament comes in is when they do public participation to identify the projects and programmes to be implemented. After public participation, the Board takes over the implementation and the Member of Parliament oversees the implementation. Given that operational framework, anybody associating a Member of Parliament fully with the operations of the NG-CDF is misinformed. I urge our colleagues in the Senate to take time and look at the NG-CDF Act so that they are updated in terms on how the NG-CDF is structured. Hon. Temporary Speaker, three things have come out in the recommendations. One of them is the matter of land. The Committee went out there and could not get the title deeds for some of the parcels of land where some of the projects are located. The truth is that in some areas, title deeds have not been issued to the landowners. The owners are waiting for survey to be done so that they can obtain their title deeds. In such cases, the landowners have an agreement with the assistant chief for their land to be set aside for public utilities. That is the only basis for locating land belonging to schools and any other public facility. In other circumstances, documentation has been done and filed. The Committee should appreciate that title deeds are not available everywhere. If you were unable to locate the title deed for certain properties, please; let us know if you have any other documentation that confirms ownership of the public land. In our area, we follow a similar procedure. We ask the landowner to sign an agreement document in the presence of the assistant chiefs. This ensures that as we process the title deeds, we do not delay the implementation of projects that are identified by the citizens. The Committee also brought up the issue of documentation, pointing out that there were no accounting documents to back up the expenditure. I believe this was part of your recommendations in the previous report. The Committee realised that fund managers were unable to provide the necessary accounting documents which, in my opinion, may have been a deliberate move. I thank Hon. Obiri for moving the debate on this Report, as we belong to the same party. 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."
}