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{
    "id": 380439,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/380439/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
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    "content": "and so many other things that Kenyan politicians like to talk about all the time. Because if you fail and you want some votes in your constituency, and you know that if you start attacking Pokomos, your people will support you, then you immediately venture in that area of attacking Pokomos just for the sake of getting positions! So, I think time has come when we must understand which direction we are taking as the leaders of this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what the honorable Mover has just done is to give us the opportunity to remind us that there are problems that we need to urge the county governments so solve, and this problem is not only in the county governments. Now, we are saying as if it is a major thing that the MCAs have no offices. But you and I know that even Senators do not have offices and, therefore, we are progressing. I think we should not blame ourselves when we start a thing like this because we are all in the process of development. The estimates being done by MCAs, as mentioned by Sen. Lonyangapuo, that the governor has no business with MCAs which I think is true because you can actually claim they own the county government. These are the only people who can decide which direction the county government should go. There is nowhere in our Constitution that the governor is empowered to do anything in the county assembly. That is why you see conflict between the governor and the speakers because the speaker is now controlling an entire arm of the government which is the County Assembly. Therefore, the speaker becomes a very important person. The governor will only be responsible for the executive people that were nominated. We cannot claim to be protecting county governments unless the Senate Committee on devolution takes the lead. I think we need to start thinking of constituting a sub-committee of the Committee on Devolution which will be empowered by this House to go round the country so that they can tell us what problems exist in the counties. We should not just sit here and come up with a small Motion and say that we have discovered a problem here. I think there is need for the Senate Committee on to go around the country and bring a comprehensive report of the problems the county governments are facing. That will give us the opportunity to think wisely and to take decisions other than just providing them with offices. Democracy is a very expensive exercise and, therefore, we need to provide the MCAs with money to buy vehicles. We will have to give them a grant like we are doing in the Senate and the National Assembly so that they have their own vehicles. Again, they need offices. These people are operating in very difficult situations. In the process of understanding the problem of county governments, we should also try as much as possible to understand other problems which maybe bothering them because there is going to be a lot of crisis in the years to come. Between now and June, you will find conflicts between governors, speakers and the MCAs. We have to arrest that situation before it comes and that can only be effectively done by the Committee on Devolution. Therefore, I want to urge this Senate to think beyond what we are talking about here. That route can only be followed by the Committee on Devolution which is capable of producing the kind of report we might want to see. I do not want to talk too much about these things because it is very clear and we are only advising the county The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}