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{
    "id": 263612,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/263612/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 404,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Shakeel",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 140,
        "legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
        "slug": "shakeel-shabbir"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I did not see him and he was sitting next to me. My contribution will be much reduced. The whole objective of this Bill and the objective of the new Constitution is devolution. This devolution must be seamless. This transition must be done well. We cannot allow shortcuts. I was a mayor for two terms and I found that the most amount of irregular and illegal activities took place during transitions, either during elections or thereafter. So, we want to be very clear. This Bill has laid it down that there will be no such activities and we must be very clear as to how this will be done. The spirit of the new Constitution must be adhered to at all times. I spoke to the Minister earlier but he must admit that his audit team of the local authorities has not been able to capture the status of all local authorities. I know for a fact that over half or maybe even more local authorities’ audited accounts are up to five to ten years in arrears. So, I am wondering how we are going to proceed with this. The only way possible, as an auditor, is perhaps doing a forensic audit. The Minister must know that even before the Transitional Authority is put in place, he has his audit team. He must start to work with the forensic audit to establish the true position on the ground and not on paper. I want to voice the concerns of hon. Karua. Half of the members of this Authority are technocrats and the other half are Executive appointees. These technocrats are all in essence technocrats, but the devil is in the detail and unless you can re-organize this particular Transitional Authority, we do not want those technocrats to come and sabotage our activities, yet we do not want to throw out their experience. We do not want to throw away the baby with the birth water. The Provincial Administration has done its job over time in eh 46 districts that were there. So, let us synthesize, synergize, concentrate and consolidate. The third point that I wanted to bring to your attention is the issue of the two phases. The Constitution only gives three years for any transition. Here, we are talking about the first phase, which could be between the passing of the Bill and elections. That could be nine months and then another three years. Then it says that the President in consultation may extend one year more. My Committee has discussed this and is totally against this. We have a maximum of three years. I even feel that what hon. Karua has said about one year is appropriate. Finally, with regard to the penalties under Clause 34(c), Kshs500,000 is not enough for that penalty where assets have been squandered. We feel that it should be something like Kshs10 million or seven years. With those few remarks, I bow to my Chairman."
}