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{
"id": 1552003,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1552003/?format=api",
"text_counter": 786,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 407,
"legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
"slug": "ledama-olekina"
},
"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, the amount of money we spend outsourcing for legal services in this country is ridiculous. We talk about government efficiency and making sure that we stop wastages of resources, but we are not doing it. Governors, left, right and centre, are using law firms to divert resources. It is that simple. You see a simple brief. We go through all these matters when we are looking at them. In my view, during the budget making process, county assemblies must be able to limit the amount of money that can be spent by the county government to outsource legal services. Spend more money with in-house counsel. I feel like this Petition has not been given the time that it required, and that it will not solve anything. In future, when a matter comes and it directly affects the members of the Committee who are dealing with it, they should just recuse themselves and say, please let us set up an ad hoc committee to deal with this matter. Lawyers did not give this matter any service. They did not. Madam Temporary Speaker, we look like jokes when we send out these recommendations. I do not agree with them at all. Perhaps, the Secretariat should advise us, because of the time limit of 60 days, whether there is a way for us to relook at this matter, because it will come back here. Let us set up an ad hoc committee to look at these matters diligently so that when we give out recommendations... These recommendations are too many. I will read another one, which I totally do not agree with- “County governments are advised to seek representation from external legal firms occasionally when handling complex and special legal services.” What is complex? You have gone to law school. You have been trained and graduated. You have been trained to be able to deal with complex, simple, and even cantankerous matters. So, it is not that there is a cabal, or a group of lawyers out there, who are trained to deal with complex matters. Seriously, do not make us look like we are a bunch of kangaroo House, that just goes with the flow. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am sorry that I am poking a lot of holes in these recommendations, but I just find them very shallow. Another recommendation says- “The Office of the Auditor-General should audit the County Government expenditures to identify the specific counties with exorbitant fees spent on legal services as at the time of adopting this report.” Give me a break. Madam Temporary Speaker, we already know. That report is already out. Why are we trying to write things for the sake of it? We already know the amount of legal fees for all 47 counties, starting from Nairobi City County. The Auditor-General has already done it. So, if the Auditor-General gets this, she will just say, okay, give me those reports, cut and paste, boom, boom, Senate, here is the report. What are we going to do? Then what? When the Petitioner submitted this Petition to this House, he expected us to say, county government, put a cap, of for instance, maximum Kshs50 million, a year. So, we know if we spend any money, it is probably about Kshs200 million. We need to relook at this. I am going to take about two more minutes to finish. The report says- 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."
}