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{
    "id": 1552006,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1552006/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 789,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me the floor. First, I would like to commend Mr. Laban Omusundi. I have never met him in person, but I know that he has been raising extremely deep questions in Nakuru County. I commend him for bringing this issue that is affecting all the 47 counties, to the Senate. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am just going to make about three points on this. The first thing is that this report has exposed three counties that have not yet appointed county attorneys by the end of the audit of 2024. The three counties are Tana River, Lamu and Uasin Gishu Counties. Let me not speak about the other two, but speak about my county. According to Section 16 of the Office of the County Attorneys Act, 2020, it is the only Act that empowers a county to venture out and get legal services. According to this Act, you are supposed to get legal services with the permission of the county executive. If you look at Tana River County, it has been paying fees to lawyers, some of whom sit in this House. Neither do they have a county attorney's office nor consent from the county executive to pay. So, if the counties of Tana River, Uasin Gishu, and Lamu have paid any legal fees, the legal fee is recoverable. The highest- ranking person in a county is the governor. He is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the county. These people must find the money to refund the counties. In the meantime, there should be a very strong warning that they cannot continue to contract external lawyers. Tana River County has no county attorney and it should not be able to contract outside lawyers. What they are doing is illegal and it must be called for that. It is not only illegal, it is also corrupt. The law requires that they have a county attorney and a county solicitor general. So, this is the first thing that has exposed the three counties. It is wrong that they continue to get legal services from external lawyers. This is wrong and the governors who are the CEOs in these counties must be accountable. The big question is, Mr. Laban Omusundi, in his petition, does not want legal services to be contracted out at all. He wants all the legal services from all the counties to be done with the legal expertise that is within the counties. I will not support that because it should not be lawyers because services that are 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."
}