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{
    "id": 1490824,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1490824/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 139,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to second the report on the Select Committee on County, Publics and Investment Committee (CPIC) of the Auditor-General for the financial statement for the listed counties, water service providers for the financial years 2018/2019, and 2020/2021. Those counties have already been listed by the Mover of this Motion. I will restrict myself to the observations that we made during the enquiry on the way these counties managed their water resources. One of the biggest problems is that many the water companies were being run by a board without the input of the county governors. In most cases, county governors appeared before our committee and raised concerns as to why they were taking oath and responding to issues which they did not understand. These water companies were being run autonomously by their boards and it brought in a lot of conflict on how they can manage the resources. The County Executive Committee Members (CECM) in charge of water and sanitation for each of the counties were represented in those boards. They worked tirelessly to set up budgets that could allow them run these water companies. However, the problem already explained by my colleague had to do with an issue where you find in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties have one water company. You go to Kisii and Nyamira, there is only one water company. So, it brings in the issue of autonomy and which county can be able to generate more resources. Mr. Temporary Speaker. Sir, when we looked at that, our committee highly recommended that each of the 47 county governments have their own water companies. We also looked at the issue of regional water bodies. The Constitution is clear in terms of water and sanitation. Water and sanitation are devolved to the county governments. However, if you look at the Third Schedule of the Constitution, the national Government also has a role to play when it comes to the issue of protecting water sources, securing sufficient residual water, hydraulic engineering and safety of dams. When we sit in this House, we also confuse the whole process. I remember during the time when we were interrogating these counties on how they are managing their water resources, the Water Act, which was being amended--- Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you will notice that the proponents of that Water Act were moving away all the functions of managing even the local companies to the national Government. That brought in a huge conflict. It is about time that all of us look at how we really fight for devolution. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}