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{
    "id": 27836,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/27836/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 370,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 164,
        "legal_name": "Gerald Otieno Kajwang",
        "slug": "otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to second this Bill. May I say very briefly that actually when we agreed that we will have election at two levels, that is, the national level and the county level, I was already worried what will happen to the office of the mayor because you cannot have a governor who is elected by the majority of Nairobi residents and also have a mayor who is elected by the majority of Nairobi residents and each one of them has executive powers. It was not going to work that way. This is a way of engineering how there can only be two elections; one at the national level and the other at the regional level and then see how to manage the city in a way that is peaceful and does not bring another election. I also looked at it from the rural dispensation because I come from a rural constituency. I have Suba County Council, Mbita Council and there will be Homa Bay County. I was going to ask how we will have only two elections. What will happen to Mbita County Council and Suba County Council? It came to my mind that they will just have to die. However, the question was: How will we govern those small urban areas to make sure that they are clean, services are provided, they grow and take care of the interest of the people who live in there? I think this is a very ingenious way of providing for this management. There will only be one government and we will have certain managers who are appointed by the executive authority at the county level and who will be answerable to the county government. Ordinarily, there is something like that although it is not quite conspicuous. If you go to a big City like Nairobi, you will find there are departments that run Eastlands and other parts of the city but they are answerable to the City Council. This is not anything new but it has been improved to give effect to what the Constitution expects us to do. If you look at Clause 21, you will find that it talks about the powers of boards of cities and municipalities. The executive government will appoint boards to run the city. They could appoint boards to run parts of the city. They could divide the City into 17 or less regions and then call them cities if they like or whatever name they can give them. However, they will create a board which will run the affairs of that small entity. That board will be answerable to the city government which is headed by the governor. Clause 21 says that the board shall exercise executive authority as delegated by the county executive. This means that they do not exercise any other executive authority as if they have also been elected. The authority is just donated and can be withdrawn. That makes it a very professional body that will then manage our affairs. This is just like the water boards which are professional boards that manage our water affairs but that donated power can be withdrawn or improved."
}