HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 263104,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/263104/?format=api",
"text_counter": 82,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mudavadi",
"speaker_title": "The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 84,
"legal_name": "Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi",
"slug": "musalia-mudavadi"
},
"content": "I will move straight to Clause 19. Under this Clause, we create a Council of County Governors. This, again, is important because whereas the Summit provides for the interaction between the national Government or the President – the national Executive and the county Governments, the Council of County Governors is also important because we are now providing a legal framework where the governors of all the 47 counties can also have sessions in a structured format to discuss and maybe harmonize certain issues. There could be issues that relate to may be taxation levels in one county vis-a-vis another county. So, there must be a forum where the governors can also consult and harmonise some of these issues. I think this, again, provides a very important forum. One may quickly try and look at it and ask: “Does it resemble Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya (ALGAK) as it is currently constituted?” The answer is “yes” and “no”. However, ALGAK, as it exists today, is not covered by any Act of Parliament. Here, we are saying that the Council of Governors shall be covered by an Act Parliament and, again, the functions are clearly spelt out. This is very important because as the Minister for Local Government one of the things I have experienced is that when you call an ALGAK session you realize that it has been turned into some kind of trade union for the civic leaders. When they have called ALGAK all other agenda items are sometimes relegated to matters under AOB and the focus becomes either salaries or remuneration of the civic leaders. Here we are making it very clear what the functions are bearing in mind that now, as public officers, the issue of remuneration is handled by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission there will be better focus in terms of looking at the issues here. That forum will not be turned into a trade union movement because the issues of remuneration are now handled completely separately. Under Part III, Clause 24, there is an attempt to actualize Articles 186 and 187 of the Constitution. Here we are dealing with the transfer and delegation of powers, functions, and competencies. These provisions are very important to hon. Members because when they will be looking at the Transition to Devolved Government Bill that is a window that works only for three years. The transitional authority is a three year phase in accordance with the Constitution. However, after the three year transition phase - the authority we proposed in the other Bill is supposed to serve for a limited time – the residual issues that will involve assignment of functions and so forth between the national government and the counties, there must be a body that can look at this critically and say, “Musalia Mudavadi’s Vihiga County is now capable of performing certain functions. What is the criterion for them to evaluate and establish that they are ready to perform those functions?” So, I urge hon. Members to look at Part III carefully because it establishes how the inter-governmental relations will treat transfer of functions and ensure that there are adequate resources and so on. We are making it as a principle that you do not tell a county government to undertake certain functions and you fail to give them the requisite resources. You must give them the resources. If you are being told to undertake additional health functions in your county, the national budget arrangements must ensure that you have the resources to perform that function. They should not tell you that they are giving you those functions and yet they do not resource you. We do not want that to happen. All these clauses are very important and I urge hon. Members to look at them critically so that where there is weakness we strengthen them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under Clause 27, we are putting a requirement to ensure that there are certain service standards. We do not want anybody to say that they are engaging in a particular activity and then they offer sub-standard services. We are making it clear that this particular institution will also come in to regulate and ensure that there is a basic minimum in terms of the service that the citizens are going to get. I would urge hon. Members to look at and strengthen Clause 27. We have the issue of dispute resolution under Part IV of the Bill. This is important because disputes shall arise from time to time – disputes between the national government and some of the county governments. We are providing mechanisms for dispute resolution. This is about how the disputes can be declared and arbitrated. We are looking at what mechanisms are available. This is important because you will find that in certain areas natural resources are shared between county governments. You may find that there is water in one county, say, in Muranga and yet it serves residents, say, in Nairobi. So, questions keep arising, for instance, how does that particular county that is hosting the dam also benefit from the resources? The water is obtained and goes all the way to another area, but those fellows are getting nothing out of it. What do you do? So this is going to provide some mechanism to allow for the resolution of some of these issues. If some royalties are to be obtained and so forth, they can be obtained. I ask the House to look at the dispute resolution mechanisms carefully. Of course, ultimately, it is either the court or senate that may intervene. These are provisions that can be improved depending on the nature of the problem. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under Part V we have miscellaneous provisions. These are operational expenses. Under Clause 37, when the Summit meets, that shall be a charge on the national government. When the Council of Governors meet, that should be a charge on the county governments. When it is the technical committee or secretariat that is working, that shall be a charge on both levels of government. Where there are sectoral working groups because there could be issues that are very specific, then the county governments would then meet the bill for whatever task that is being undertaken. This is very important because we want to be clear who is spending what money where, when and why. Clause 38 provides for regulation where the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the Summit may make regulations for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act. One of the things that has come out in our new Constitution is that any regulations that are made must also be approved at the end of the day by Parliament. So, this, again, is very important to note. Certain regulations cannot be made without Parliament having the requisite input. The Schedule is on page 172. It is important because it has provisions on the conduct of the meetings of the inter-governmental structures. It deals with the issues of quorum, decisions of the body and how they arrive at them, that is, by consensus. They can have joint-sittings and also co-opt technical advice on some of the issues where they are not adequately equipped. It also states how the meetings should be convened. These are important so that we do not have meetings that have no purpose. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill is very important because it provides the framework of that relationship both vertically and horizontally. I urge hon. Members to scrutinize it the way they are scrutinizing the other ones and their additional input is going to be very helpful. I beg to move and request hon. Lee Kinyanjui to second."
}