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"id": 239891,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ahenda",
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"speaker": {
"id": 256,
"legal_name": "Paddy Ahenda",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Yesterday, I started by congratulating the Minister for having brought some sanity in the Ministry of Local Government. However, I had put it across to him that within my own constituency, Kasipul Kabondo, we have Rachuonyo County Council and Oyugis Town Council, which were given very little money. Therefore, it is my humble request that he looks into the provisions for these local authorities. Mr. Speaker, Sir, last year, the Minister gave his own district over Kshs120 million and this year, he has allocated Kshs44 million to his district. So, I humbly request him to look at the allocations and give either Oyugis Town Council or Rachuonyo County Council Kshs10 million out of that allocation, so that he can keep the balance of Kshs34 million. That would be a very fair distribution of resources in the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there has been talk that has been doing the rounds for some years now that councillors all over the country should be paid from the Consolidated Fund. If councillors are paid from the Consolidated Fund, then the question of local authorities over-levying mama mbogas in the market places will be a thing of the past. In Oyugis Town Council particularly, a woman trader vending vegetables worth Kshs30, is levied Kshs50. There was a case in point where the women just gave the vegetables to the councillors for free. Sometimes local authorities officers are given budgets and asked to meet them through collection of revenue. The only way the officers can raise the revenue is to run after the women in market places trying to collect money. Could the Minister look into this matter with a view to having councillors countrywide paid from the Exchequer, so that the collection targets of local authorities can come down? That target is highest within Oyugis Town Council. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Oyugis Town Council has grown with lifts and bounds and it is high time it was elevated to a full municipality so that it can attract more investors. Rachuonyo County Council within Kosele should also be upgraded to a town council. Urban planners should go out, instead of idling at the headquarters, to oversee the planning of Kosele and other upcoming towns within the country. They should not wait until people put up their own structures and then years later, they come up with bulldozers to pull down those structures. This is the right time for them to go out and plan the towns. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a tendency by the Ministry headquarters to overburden local authorities with certain directives that are not implementable on the ground. If officers at the Ministry headquarters could reach the local authorities themselves, they would see that some of the circulars they issue are not implementable. The local authorities have, therefore, been left with no August 2, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2563 alternatives except to run after women traders at the market places trying to raise revenue. So, local authorities end up levying what cannot be afforded by women traders within the markets. The situation has been made worse within Oyugis Municipal Council by former executive officers, including the mayor, the deputy mayor and other officials. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}