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{
    "id": 364096,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/364096/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 283,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "I think that means that through this we will probably save more babies than I used to do one by one. I do not want to say anything about the legal issues or about when and where we should refer this. I think that has been dealt with adequately by hon. Mbadi and the Leader of the Majority Party. However, an issue that I want to bring out that came to our mind as a Committee is the need to plan devolution carefully. We had the opportunity to meet with the governors and the Cabinet Secretary in charge of finance. Earlier, in a different committee we had an opportunity to meet with the Cabinet Secretary in charge of health. What has come out is that whereas it is very clear in the Constitution under Schedule Four of what the functions are for the county governments and national Government there is great need to plan this very carefully so that some functions that have been going on are not interrupted. For example, in the health sector the only functions of the national Government are policy and referral facilities. Even the referral facilities are not very well defined. In education, the only functions of the county government are pre-primary schools and polytechnics. As we sat with the governors and discussed the issue, it was clear that the governors would want to do more, say, in education. A governor indicated; why would he not be responsible for what is happening in a primary school? What kind of governor would he or she be if something is going on in the primary schools and yet we are saying here that the county government cannot do anything about it? That sounded reasonable. On the other hand, we looked at many programmes in the Ministry of Health that over the years have been run as national programmes and there are systems that have been put in place to run them that way. Saying that we take all that and move them to the county without looking at the structures that will make them run efficiently, may be a bit reckless. For example, the issue of vaccine programmes; the treatment of people with HIV (ARV programmes); treatment of people with TB and so on. We realized that there is great need for a planned devolution. The forum that was suggested by the Committee and our Chairman has put it out fairly clearly; it is the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry in charge of devolution, the Transitional Authority, and the Council of Governance. They need to meet from time to time and agree on what function can be effectively and efficiently run and at what level so that we do not disrupt services. I am sure that what is provided took into account the national interests and capacities on either side. Therefore, when funds get devolved, for instance in the area of healthcare; obviously, most of the funds should go to the counties. That is as it should be,"
}