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{
    "id": 184456,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184456/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Shakeel",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 140,
        "legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
        "slug": "shakeel-shabbir"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for finally recognizing us here. I stand to support the proposal and the budget that has been tabled to us by the Deputy Prime Minister and October 14, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2705 Minister for Local Government, subject to the following:- On the issue of the Road Maintenance Levy, it appears that the whole provinces of Nyanza and North Eastern seem to have slipped away. That, honourable Minister, covers over one-third of the country. I cannot understand under what basis that has happened. I do urge you to, kindly, perhaps, go back and look into that. I propose that you re-look at that issue and see whether you can re-allocate some of those funds so that we can all get a little bit. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the local authorities have been the keystone of governance in this country. I now speak as a former mayor. The situation in local authorities is decaying. We all know that you are doing a great job. Local authorities were set up a long time ago under the colonial era, and even before that, the criteria for setting up councils and appointing mayors were different then. Councillors and mayors were part time. They met after 4.30 p.m. They were usually well-to-do people who normally had things to do. I remember John Ruddock was the Mayor of Kisumu and he went to work at 4.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and at 6.00 p.m., he finished his work and went home. They were called \"old men\"! They did their jobs because the executive office was efficient. The local government systems were good and effective. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am sorry to say that the Ministry of Local Government is no longer a local affair. It has lost that control. It is not able to control the local authorities as it should. I know that the Minister is trying very hard. There is the Local Authorities Reform Project. It is very important that we start showing that the Ministry of Local Government can, in effect, control councils, guide them, help them in budgeting and help them to move forward. It is very important that we start showing that the Ministry of Local Government can, in fact, control budgeting and help them go along. There are major problems in the Ministry. I want to be polite, but the Ministry's headquarters is riddled with corruption. I know that the Ministers are the first to recognise this problem. It is not that the chief officers are bad. They are excellent people, but the system itself has a problem."
}