Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 389302,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/389302/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 222,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "In this country, we are known for having very good development plans and good indicators, but we lack in monitoring and evaluation. So, I think at a later stage, we must put in place an independent monitoring and evaluation body that will be able to assess the performance of counties and the national Government in delivering what they promised to do. This is necessary since we now have two levels of Government. There is need for a body that supervises them just the way the Controller and Auditor-General cuts across. Their reports will be very valuable to us in dealing with the counties and the national Government in as far as the development agenda is concerned. Madam Temporary Speaker, as we develop these programmes, we must know that there is no way we can separate the two levels of Government. For instance, I am aware that in some development plans that were prepared by counties, issues of police stations or policing in general were not included because that is not their mandate. We are all aware that all these developments that we are talking about will not succeed unless the aspect of security is looked at. There are other cross-cutting issues, for example, urbanization. In all economies that have become developed, we know that they have done so through urbanization. That is really the direction we should take. Sen. Wetangula had alluded to it; that we have tended to centralize everything in Nairobi and, perhaps, that is why we are not growing as fast. We should really have more cities in this country in order to be able to develop. Devolution to the counties gives us these opportunities. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Act that defines the criteria for a city or a municipality has done more harm than good. Instead of deliberately enhancing the status of our cities and towns, it has even gone to the extent of demoting some of our urban centres. For example, Kitale Municipality is supposed to be a township. I do not know what the intention is. We should purposely target towns, even those which are not there to be uplifted to city status. But if we step backwards and use the basis of population alone we may not be able to properly determine a city or a municipality. We should also look at other aspects. For example, we should say that every county headquarters should be a municipality, whether it is small and then plan the road network to make it possible to become a municipality. Some have argued that previously, some townships that were just villages were created. It is true, but if you look at all of them, you will discover one thing; the fact that they were created made those centres grow. In developing the criteria, we should also look at other parameters and not just economic indicators. We should also look at the national values and principles; whether the counties are conforming to the requirements of the Constitution in terms of human rights and national values like sharing and looking after the marginalized and so on. At the moment, I am not sure that these parameters are being given weight by our county governments. With those few remarks, I support."
}