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{
"id": 184210,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184210/?format=api",
"text_counter": 196,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
"speaker_title": "The Prime Minister",
"speaker": {
"id": 195,
"legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
"slug": "raila-odinga"
},
"content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to support the Motion. I would like to begin by saying that local authorities are very important institutions in our governing system. Without them, the Government cannot function efficiently. So, we say that they are the building bricks of a society. At Independence, we had a structure of Government which had devolved power to the regions. We had regional governments and local governments below them. Local governments were being supervised by the regional governments. \"Local\" means that they are local as opposed to Central Government. They are supposed to serve the local community. That is why they are called local governments. They are governments. They should not be subservient to the Central Government. They were supposed to raise their own revenues and provide services to the people. That is why I sometimes wonder when you talk about salaries for councillors. The councillors are supposed to earn allowances for services rendered to the people. Recently, I addressed a group of councillors. I told them that they need to be paid for services that they are rendering. A newspaper reporter went overboard and said that I had opposed allowances or salaries for councillors. I never opposed. I want it to be properly recorded that I have never opposed the increase of allowances to councillors. It should be noted that it is an allowance and not a salary. Salary means that you have been employed permanently. All over the world, be it the UK, USA, Japan, Germany and wherever I have been too, councillors are paid allowances on the basis of the services that they render and also depending on the ability of those local authorities to pay. The central government is supposed to deal with centralised services while local authorities are supposed to deal with local services. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, before Independence, most of the urban local authorities were empowered to provide a lot of services to the people. If you look at the Nairobi City Council, you will find several residential estates which were constructed at that time. We have estates like Kaloleni, Makongeni, Shauri Moyo, Jerusalem, Jericho, Pumwani, Ziwani and so on. Since Independence, provision of housing actually just died. The modern independent city council has not constructed any more new estates. That is the reason why slums have continued to proliferate in our urban areas. Slums are a direct consequence of the failure of local authorities to provide housing to the population. We want to challenge these local authorities to do what they are required to do by the Constitution. Waste management is a responsibility of the local authorities. Provision of water and maintenance of roads within the local authorities is also their responsibility. These are services against which the performance of the local authorities need to be measured. So, when hon. Members are talking here, let them not just talk about the expenditure side. Let them also demand proper services from these councillors. They are elected by the people to provide services, be it in the rural areas or urban areas. 2778 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 15, 2008 If you go to our towns, they are all in a very sorry state, whether it is Kitale, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret and so on. If they expect to attract investment in those areas which will in turn provide employment, they must create a conducive environment. You cannot expect an investor to come to your town when it is filthy and stinking, roads are potholed, no water services and failed sewerage systems. Time has come for this House to speak with one voice and demand that our local authorities need to be reorganised in order to provide services to the people. Let us not play populist politics. Let us give leadership where it is required. This House must talk with one voice for services to be rendered to our people who are suffering under the mismanagement of our local authorities. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is the LATF money which is provided by the Central Government. It is a lot of money. There is Kshs9.2 billion that has been provided in this Budget and it can make a lot of difference. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, my advice to the councillors is that they plan well and use that money properly. They should not divide that money into small units that do not have effect, for example, allocating a project Kshs20,000 or Kshs50,000. They should have a provision that will only fund a project costing, say, more than Kshs300,000. That will make a difference to the local population. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to support those who are calling for the revision of the Local Government Act, Cap.265. Once a upon a time, I used to be a shadow Minister for Local Government in this House. I did a lot of research on how this could be done. I also want to support those who are calling for the direct election of chairpersons of county councils and mayors of our cities and also to give them a full term of five years instead of electing them after every two years. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, if you see the way these elections are carried out, they are a basis for corruption because councillors are taken like sheep, herded to some place and hidden until the day of elections when they are all taken to the election hall. As soon as they arrive there, they say: \"Sisi ni watu wa fulani\". They are in groups and then they vote like voting machines. So, this also needs to be changed. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we are going to be dealing with the constitution of this country and we need to be sober when we talk about it. Let us debate it with an open mind and be tolerant. Even if you do not agree with my views, you should at least listen to them. The moment I debate about a presidential system and a parliamentary system, we should realise that it is a healthy debate. Kenyans need to know about it. At Independence, we had a parliamentary system. We had a Prime Minister and a Head of State being represented by the Governor. That Prime Minister was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gatundu. When the Constitution was changed in 1964, he was elevated from being a Prime Minister to an Executive President without going for an election. Then in 1969 there was no opposition since it had been banned. He was elected unopposed. In 1974, he was also elected unopposed. In 1978, he passed away. So, he was a president for all these years without any Kenyan going to the ballot box to elect him. Then \"Nyayo\" took over. He was elected unopposed in 1979. In 1983, he was also elected unopposed. The same also happened to him in 1983 and 1988. Kenyans went to the ballot box for the first time to elect a president in 1992. So, all this nonsense that Kenyans have been all the times electing a president is not true. The election of presidents started in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007. So, we have only had four presidential elections in the life of the Republic of Kenya. So, let us be very open minded when we are debating the issue of a new Constitution. In a country that is ethnically divided, should we go for a presidential or parliamentary system? Let us also look at the results of 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 and let those be a source of information for us as we go into this process of the Constitution October 15, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2779 review. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am sure that we have intellectuals in this House who will be able to argue intellectually so that if you convince me that a presidential system is better, I will agree or if a parliamentary system is better, I will also agree. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}