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{
    "id": 1527163,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527163/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 313,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Buuri, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Bill addresses pertinent issues, which I will summarise. I have noticed that there is CAIPs, which is a very important component of the national Government’s agenda. I would like to disabuse the notion that the counties are being developed by county governments. The national Government and the county governments are in partnership. The CAIPS will create areas that will enhance value addition, create storage facilities, and become centres of innovation where trading can be done effectively and in an organised manner. In Meru County, the CAIP is situated in my constituency. We are excited that the national Government and the county government are in a partnership. We are an agricultural county. My constituency is the largest producer of flowers, wheat, potatoes and vegetables, which feed almost the entire northern frontier. We should support this Bill and allocate more funds to the counties. We have gone through a tempting and embarrassing situation where provision of medical services in this country has been put to a test. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we have seen the crisis in the medical sector. We have many unemployed doctors. Interns and employed doctors have never been paid their salaries. We all know that health is devolved. Therefore, the Government has to come in handy and clear those arrears so that the country can move on. We, as the national Government, need to release more funds to the counties. The question that we need to ask ourselves here is why the counties waited until we reached this point where there is a crisis. Many people will say the national Government delayed in sending the money, but that is not the truth. There is improper utilisation of the resources and lack of priorities in the county governments. It is quite embarrassing that in a country of Kenya’s age, doctors cannot be paid. We all know that health is a very important factor in this country. I have seen there is money to support CHPs. However, I am a bit embarrassed here because we only have 3,716 CHPs in Meru County. We have been told that every CHP will be in charge of 100 households. I have multiplied and found that the CHPs will cover only 371, 600 households in Meru County. Surely, this is not even a half of Meru County's entire households! This means that we are far from meeting the expectations in the health sector in terms of provision of healthcare. We would like to allocate more resources in this sector or area. I have seen that there is a problem with the money that comes from development partners. If you look at the schedule that has been provided here, you will notice there are so many projects. Some of them are repeated, but there is nothing wrong with that. The only problem is accountability. Year in, year out we send money from the development partners to counties which oversee the utilisation and implementation of these projects. I join my colleague, Hon. Ochanda, who said we give a lot of unconditional revenue to counties every year. I will give an example. We appropriate money for informal settlement schemes. There are Kenya urban settlement schemes which we do not know. These things are not visible at the counties. I have seen two programmes here on climate change which are parallel. One is allocated Ksh3.3 billion and the other one Ksh1.2 billion. I have seen the allocation on drought is repeated. What is the basis of bringing this money? Who oversees it? The money for Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP) and Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP) is appropriated in this House. However, it is a conduit. What normally happens after that? What is the value of this money that is given to counties year in, year out? It is a concern to us. I am yet to see a Governor who will rise up and issue a policy statement on the education sector, health sector, agriculture sector, or water sector. All what we see is impromptu implementation of one or two projects discriminatively. They do not go to areas where they have no support. They neither speak about water policy nor health policy. That is why our country is grinding to a halt in terms of the health sector."
}