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{
"id": 1491416,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1491416/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
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"speaker": {
"id": 407,
"legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are trying to resolve a problem here, but we are not solving it. The county assemblies will continue having that problem. It depends on the relationship between the Speaker, the Clerk and the county governor. He will just say, ignore. Let us not release the money. I would like to beseech you that you do away with 109(e) completely. Let us give these guys their full autonomy. Let them control their money. We already know that this Senate, the CRA, and the Committee on Finance and Budget have deliberated on the ceiling of the county assemblies. The only thing that we may need to revisit is the growth of the ceiling of county assemblies. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is because, if you look at the way the ceiling of the county assemblies’ funds are growing, it is not proportional to the way the funds for the executive are growing. We will have to figure out and revisit that so that we do not find a place where county assemblies have a lot much money and they cannot absorb it. Remember county assemblies do not have any big vote head on development. So, these are recurrent expenditures. We will need to be practical to make sure that we have a system that works properly. I would agree with my colleagues that the current situation is not a very conducive environment for the assemblies. That is why you find that, whenever, even in our oversight committees we invite county assemblies to come and appear before us, county assemblies just tell us that they have a problem. They may not even afford to fuel their vehicles to come and attend sessions because the executive has not yet released their funds. I believe this is something which is going to help all the 47 counties and as well as help devolution. There is this business that governors still think that they are the fathers of the MCAs. You will find a governor saying that my MCAs. They are not your MCAs. The MCAS are elected by the people to oversight the county governor. It is important that we clarify those two. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I conclude, I believe I have summarized my points clearly to the fact that, firstly, it is important that we do away with that double prong of accountability. It is not really accountability, but the examination of documents. The CoB must agree that if she has a representative in the 47 counties and if the representative has gone through all the documentation, let us not waste time allowing people to travel from counties to come in and camp in her office. If she has a problem, let us deal with the electronic system. The next amendment and I was hoping that you would piggyback on this one, would be the one of establishing an end-to-end system. So as to avoid this issue where you require the CECM of finance or the CO to give double authority for funds to be released. This is why you find a lot of people are complaining that there are many pending bills. When the money is released by the CoB, the people who are supposed to be paid are not the ones who are paid and the funds are diverted. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is something I wanted to request, because this Bill is sponsored by the Senator for Meru County, that Section 119(a) you are now introducing, where you say the CoB shall have viewer rights, access to all bank accounts maintained by the county executive, the county assembly, and all other county government entities. 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."
}