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{
    "id": 392005,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/392005/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 18,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the latitude. As a matter of fact it was hon. Orengo who engaged me in a very animated discussion which was very important, on a national issue of the Head of State visiting several counties in this country. I rise to support the original Motion, but even more vehemently support the amended Motion. This is not a Motion founded on theory. In many counties, Kakamega County being one of them, this challenge is there. In fact, my Governor is faced with a serious problem where 92 employees of the former urban councils have taken him to court. I am glad that this Motion is now here, so that we not only provide a solution for counties like Kakamega, but also put a standard that can help such cases that might come up. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I support this amendment, it is important that we are alive to the fact that we had some unscrupulous mayors and clerks of the local authorities who just months before we went to the general election ended up hiring many undeserving cases. We have a case in Kakamega County where a whole family is listed as employees, including a 67 year-old mother of a former high ranking member of the local authority. She is listed as an employee. It is important that as we pass this Motion in its amended form, that this audit be done. We cannot speak for those people because they are the wanyonge and, at the same time, reward a wrong like the one that I have just referred to in Kakamega County. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of approaching the status of the former local authorities disturbs me because it looks like we have been so keen on speaking to the devolved funds, but we have been very quiet over many other funds. It is lost to this Senate that as soon as governors went into office, they found the former local authorities having cash in their accounts. They received cash that had, in the financial year, been budgeted for in the former Ministry of Local Government. They continue to collect revenue at source. It is important that the Auditor-General does a proper audit of all these monies, so that we know how much money these local authorities left on their account before the county governments became fully operational. We need to know how much money had been realised from revenue collection and how much money had been voted to these counties to the former Ministry of Local Government. All this money runs into hundreds of millions. Informally, I understand, we had up to Kshs56 million in the local authorities of Kakamega County. We had Kshs362 million released that was taken to this county. We must know where all this money is. I am convinced that all Senators should take up the responsibility of fighting corruption. We 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."
}