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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, for example, if you look at the division of responsibilities or allocation of functions, you will find that the county governments will be responsible for control of drugs and pornography, for that matter. If you look at the budgets of some counties, you will see they have allocated a lot of money in that regard. Liquor licensing will be under the counties. But if you look at the legislation that is still in place, those laws still give authority and responsibility to various Government institutions and State offices. This will cause chaos, if not anarchy, between the county assemblies or county governments and those who still hold responsibility over some of these functions. Mr. Speaker, Sir, again, in the field of agriculture, you will find that in the very statute that relates to agriculture, livestock and animal husbandry, there are responsibilities which have been given to various organs of State or State offices. It is important to take an audit of these various statutes to ensure that the authority and functions of the devolved system of Government is not undermined in any manner. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I take very positively some of the criticisms that have been made. One of them is that the Committee is too large. But in my view, if this Committee is established it can work in clusters, so that this work is expedited. The other criticism is that there is a Committee on Legal Affairs and a Committee on Devolution which can actually take over these responsibilities. But this was to be an omnibus kind of approach. In the words of my learned friend, Senior Counsel, Sen. Kiraitu Murungi, in his presentation and speech in the House, this was a focused kind of Committee, to look at this legislation in the past. Mr. Speaker, Sir, some people have found discomfort in this Motion in the sense that there are those who, probably, think that this Motion is just focused on Provincial Administration. They think that, probably, we want to abolish the Provincial Administration. But in my view, this Motion is just geared towards carrying out what is set out in the Constitution, which is to make the Provincial Administration comply with the system of Government that is spelt out in the Constitution. That is, devolution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we should look at the police system and ensure that it can work also in compliance with the spirit of devolution. Any attempts being made to make the police an authority that is not under civilian authority, would be rolling back the carpet on the gains that we have made, to make Kenya a truly democratic system of Government. We want to see a situation where governance is felt, not just at the national level, but even on matters of security; that the communities would have responsibilities and rights under the Constitution. Therefore, the fears that some hon. Senators have had over this Motion may be a little unfounded. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are already attempts to try and undermine the devolved system of government, either through revenue allocation, under intended amendment of legislation that protects the system of devolution. So, the Senate should be happy and welcome this Motion. In fact, I am taken aback by the resistance to this Motion. If it is read carefully, its intention is to defend the system of government known as devolution. But now from what I can see, our commitment to devolution may also be a little bit questionable, because I have seen a lot more enthusiasm in regard to other Motions. But on this Motion, there is something that I can read between the lines, especially from our 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."
}