Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1462377,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1462377/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Just by way of background, this Bill was first published on 12th May, 2024 as Bill No.12 of 2024. This Bill seeks to amend the already existing Intergovernmental Relations Act of 2012. Remember that this Bill was actually passed pre-devolution. These are part of what you would call, ‘the Naivasha Bills’. I do not know if Sen. Mungatana was in Naivasha; I suspect he was. Yes, so my memory is right. That was when they were setting up the various enabling legislations to support devolution. At that point, this was mostly about theory and had very little to do with actually the reality of the day. At that particular time, it was envisioned; and people were discussing devolution based on theory and what they had seen in other countries. Nobody had a clear understanding of how it would work and operate in Kenya. Therefore, the Naivasha Parliamentary Committee came up with an array of Bills, many of them that we have either repealed in total or enhanced their understanding of the operations of county governments over the years. This Bill seeks to amend the Intergovernmental Relations Act to establish a structured framework for intergovernmental relations. This is to enhance intergovernmental relations among the national Government, county executive and county assemblies. I need not make a pitch for why this needs to be established. Sen. Cherarkey spoke on this Floor just a few minutes ago and I pointed out to him on the need for us to expeditiously consider this Bill. It actually addresses many of the concerns that continue to arise during the audit process of the operations of our county governments and the executives and the national Government, so that it is not just left to the whims of those that are in office at that particular time, but it becomes actually established in law of this relationship. The Bill proposes to provide a vertical role of an intergovernmental relations agency and enhance its functions and powers. It proposes to amend the Intergovernmental Relations Act to provide for the Council of Governors Secretariat, as well as County Assembly Forum (CAF) Secretariat to provide for their role in horizontal intergovernmental relations. You know very well that in 2016 when the Senate and the County Assemblies established the Legislative Summit in Mombasa, part of the takeaways of that particular Conference eight years ago, was to set up CAF as anchored in law, so as to be the lead lobby agency for our county assemblies. County Assemblies do an extremely important job as far as entrenching devolution in these counties is concerned. This House, being the primary institution charged with the responsibility of anchoring devolution in our country, must work hard to ensure that any institution that works towards achieving that particular objective is anchored in law. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is unfortunate that it has taken us this long to listen and agree to the proposal that came from our colleagues in the county assemblies as well. Many times, those of you that have attended the Legislative Assemblies Forum where you bring together county assemblies and the Senate; apart from sometimes the adhominem arguments about car grants and what not, there is more serious discussion that normally goes on."
}