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{
"id": 389255,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/389255/?format=api",
"text_counter": 175,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "September 17, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 23 Sen. Ongoro",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion. May I also take this early opportunity to congratulate Dr. Zani for bringing such an insightful Motion. Her Motions are always very insightful. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a Motion that must be supported by all in the Senate. It actually talks about our core function as the Senate and Senators. But having said that, it is true that the counties are now the main focus of devolution and, by extension now, development. For counties to achieve optimum levels of development and if the multilevel structures within these counties are to execute their respective different levels of functions effectively, then there is need--- If I may quote from the Motion, there is need to operationalize, with measureable indicators, key development agenda and deliverables for each term of the respective county governments. Mr. Speaker, Sir, why do I say this? If we are not careful, what we are going to do, as a nation, is simply to avail a lot of funds in the hands of a few people at the county level, who without good structures and effective indicators of performances, cannot even evaluate their own performance. Without objectives and timeframes of performance, then as a nation, we might end up just enriching a few people at the expense of the many. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this brings us to the whole idea of devolution. Why did we, as a nation, decide to support a devolved system of governance? We did this because we felt that as a nation, some regions were being developed at the expense of other regions. So, with the 47 counties and county governments and governors, we need to pass this Motion, to help them know their performance levels, objectives and have their own systems of accountability. It will also help these county governments to accelerate the development that was intended for the same counties. Passing this Motion will also help these relevant county governments to formulate relevant policies. Some policies are really not relevant for some counties. Even in the manner of implementation, if we pass this Motion, it will give the county governments a way of coming up with effective implementation strategies that are tailor-made for respective counties. A policy might be very good. However, the manner in which it might be effectively implemented in Turkana County, for example, might not be the same strategy that would work for Nairobi County. So, that would help them to also have that. Lastly, the County Impact Analysis will help the county governments also to know the performance indicators from the different Government departments from the different levels and from their own systems so that even a county Governor might be able to know which department within his Government is underperforming and which head of department is not meeting his targets. By so doing, he might also get an opportunity to restructure his own system without being bundled out together with those who are underperforming within his county. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}