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{
    "id": 184223,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184223/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Nanok",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Forestry and Wildlife",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 57,
        "legal_name": "Josephat Koli Nanok",
        "slug": "josephat-nanok"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would like to thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government for giving me this opportunity. I will take a very brief moment to highlight a few issues I feel the Ministry should pick up and address. I acknowledge the big role that the Ministry of Local Government has been playing in this country, right from Independence. I fully support this Motion mainly because 2786 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 15, 2008 of the big role being played by the Ministry. Without repeating what my colleagues have said, let me highlight a couple of issues that I think may be noteworthy to the Ministry. One, our local authorities are known to be inefficient mainly because of the minimal support they get from the Central Government. The oversight responsibility by the Central Government has been very limited. The ability for local authorities to compete and generate revenue has also been lacking. That is why I echo what my colleagues have just mentioned here - that it is, indeed, time we begun to change. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, sometimes we may think that certain local authorities are inefficient and yet, it is because of their vastness. It is the large areas covered by local councils that make them inefficient. I will give the example of Turkana County Council, which covers 77,000 square kilometres and serves three districts. That local authority is basically inefficient because the area it covers is so vast for it to be effective. I believe that the reason as to why the Central Government had to divide the larger Turkana District into three districts is to make that region more governable. So, I request the Ministry to look into this issue, so that we can make Turkana County Council more efficient. As it is now, it is difficult. The County Council Clerk and his staff are being pooled in between three districts. They are meant to attend meetings in three districts, which increases the local authority's budget in terms of travelling expenses. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in this country, we have been talking about devolution of powers. Every party has actually talked very well in its manifesto about devolution of powers. It would be very good for us to re-look at how we manage the local authorities, so that we can use this as a tool for devolution. Let us look into the support we give to local authorities, or the oversight responsibility; and capacity building. We also have to emphasise on proper planning and set revenue targets for the local authorities. As hon. Wetangula mentioned, there are so many local authorities out there which have a 50 or 100---"
}