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"id": 184201,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184201/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. ole Metito",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Regional Development Authorities",
"speaker": {
"id": 199,
"legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
"slug": "judah-ole-metito"
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion on the Vote of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government. On the onset, I want to support this Motion. This is a very important Ministry. It is really the Ministry on the grassroots level. It needs to be given all the support that it deserves, for proper functioning, efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery to wananchi. However, I have a few issues I would like the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government to address. One of them is the issue of new districts. In the run-up to last year's general elections, several new districts were created. I think some of them deserve new county councils. So, it is important that the Ministry also moves with speed to see the viability of new county councils being created for the new districts. This is because the prime objective of creating new districts is to take services closer to the people. There were so many services which were required to get closer to wananchi. The Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security was actually aiming at taking provincial and administrative services closer to wananchi. The Ministry of Local Government, being the grassroots Ministry, deserves to follow suit and find out how many new districts are able to hold new county councils. In the middle of last year, a task force was formed by the Ministry. It had representatives from various Ministries, like the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security, the Treasury and the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). The mandate of the task force was to see the possibility and viability of creating new local authorities for the new districts. I am very sure that some of them were recommended to be viable. A good example is Loitokitok County Council. Loitokitok is now a new district. It used to be in the larger Kajiado District. It is 300 kilometres from the headquarters of the parent district. The reason as to why a new district was created was to take services closer to the people. So, I beg the Ministry of Local Government to bring services to closer to the people because we are still travelling very long distances to seek the services of the local authority. I am sure it is toping the list of the most viable local councils. October 15, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2771 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of remuneration of councillors, I want to say categorically that these are the leaders at the grassroots. Their remuneration, as it is now, is not proper. It is not adequate. This Ministry should bring a Bill to this House to amend the Local Government Act to ensure that remuneration, particularly salaries, for councillors are drawn from the Consolidated Fund. We can then leave their allowances to be drawn from their respective local authorities. Councillors really need to earn uniform salary. You will find a councillor from Kajiado County Council earns half or even a third of another councillor's salary from another local authority. Members of Parliament receive the same amount of salary, irrespective of the constituency that one represents. I think it is high time this House took a stand to ensure that we streamline the payment of our councillors, irrespective of where they represent. We could leave travelling and other allowances to be paid by the respective local authorities. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Ministry should take a step on the issue of improvement of the management of county councils. This is especially with regard to the LATF. If the Ministry of Local Government streamlines the management, supervision and the way LATF is handled, just like the CDF--- I am not saying that the CDF management procedures are perfect. However, they are better than those of LATF. I would kindly urge the Ministry to come up with a structure to try to streamline the management of LATF. We could have a development committee whose composition can be decided by councillors. We should have a small team at the ward level that decides how LATF is managed. They should prioritise which projects are to be undertaken and how they are to be done. It should be done just like we are doing with the CDF which has assisted in devolution from the national level to constituency level. If we can devolve further to the ward level using LATF, that would be very good. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another important issue on the management of LATF is that, as it is now, we are leaving a lot of executive powers to the chief officers and civil servants in the local authorities to decide how LATF is used, who to use it and when to use it. I think we should devolve such powers to elected leaders; the councillors. We can then leave the procedures and procurement to the chief officers or civil servants. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to request this Ministry to take a step further to look into the issue of infrastructure in terms of roads. There are so many feeder roads that are handled by the local councils. It, however, takes a lot of time for the roads to be upgraded. This Ministry should look for ways of empowering the local authorities, just like is the case with the District Roads Committees (DRC), to have a committee that supervises the maintenance and construction of new feeder roads. These are very important roads because they are the ones used by farmers to take their produce from farms to the market. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is almost impossible to access farms as a result of poor infrastructure, yet this is one source of revenue for local authorities. If they collect revenue, it is also important that they maintain roads. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I would like to talk about the role of the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development. I think the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development overlap in their duties. There is need for the two Ministries to come up with very clear policies that define the roles and jurisdiction of each. As it is now, some of us do not really know. It is even creating confusion at the local authorities. Some local authorities do not know whether they are under the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development or the Ministry of Local Government. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will give a good example; when the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development was formed, the objective was for it to cover a 40-kilometre radius. But 2772 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 15, 2008 now, I am seeing it being asked to expand to cover up to Oloitokitok. Oloitokitok is 300 kilometres from here. They have no business being under the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan and Development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is why I am saying, it is good we get a local authority at Oloitokitok such that if Kajiado County Council is within the 40-kilometre radius, then it will have no business with Oloitokitok County Council which would be 300 kilometres from Nairobi. More importantly, these two Ministries should come up with a clear structure and policy that defines the role and jurisdiction of each one of them. Finally, is the issue of pre-nursery and nursery schools. They have been under the local authorities for a long time. However, I think it is important that the Ministry assists in paying nursery school teachers for us to realise the benefits of Free Primary School Education. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}