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{
    "id": 347817,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/347817/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 627,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Namwamba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Chairlady. Fortunately, this is not a crucifixion arena. So, we do not have to worry about Jesus or Barabbas. However, we have to worry about the fundamentals of this law. It is, indeed, true that one of the greatest challenges that has faced this fund has always been the role of the Member of Parliament. This is because there were some fundamental hiccups in the original architecture of the CDF Act. There was a time when the Member of Parliament was everything. The Member of Parliament was expected to chair the Committee. In fact, in many places, you found Members of Parliament chairing the CDF Committee. I do believe that even this House has several Members of Parliament who have chaired their CDF Committees. So, there were structural effects that obviously raised constitutional issues within the framework of the principle of separation of power, but I want to persuade hon. Ethuro without bending Standing Orders by anticipating debate on the proposal that the hon. Member for Rarieda will be placing before us. It is already on the Order Paper and hon. Gumbo has already mentioned it but I am sure I do believe that you can still retain a role for Members of Parliament to facilitate the constitution of this committee; constituting it not in terms of being the appointing authority but facilitating a process where the community itself actually plays a role to put in place this committee. However, whichever standard you want to apply, in any democracy, in any constituency whether in Kenya, the UK or the US, the only person that carries the popular mandate of the populace in that constituency is a person who has gone out there and sought that mandate and through a democratic process expressed the will of the people. That person is better placed to facilitate a process where the community will put in place a management structure for a fund than a Member of Parliament. Let us not reinvent bureaucracies that the fund intended to remove in the first place. Madam Temporary Deputy Chairlady, let me conclude by reminding my very distinguished senior from Turkana Central that even today the Member of Parliament sits, for instance in the committee that is responsible for the road funds – the committee constituted under the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KuRRA) and it is called the Constituency Roads Committee (CRC). That CRC expends public resources but a Member of Parliament is in fact not even an ex officio . He is a substantive member of that committee. He does not render that committee unconstitutional merely by his presence. The Member of Parliament sits on the District Development Committee (DDC) as a member of the DDC. The DDC is responsible for planning and even giving a"
}