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{
    "id": 392430,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/392430/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 252,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, Sir, as you know, for the last one year, former employees of local authorities have been wondering what has been happening in terms of their deployment. County Governments have also challenged the national Government saying that these are the employees of the national Government, and, therefore, should be taken back. We are, therefore, playing with the lives of Kenyans who worked very tirelessly for us under the local authorities. It is important to understand that these are Kenyans who are pensionable. Before we return them to the national Government, we should ask ourselves what will happen to their pensions. Today, county governors would want to employ their own people. We need to ask ourselves what will happen to an employee who is in Kakamega, for instance, a Luhya from Western Province, who has worked in Kakamega for 20 years, should this person be removed from office. Should this person be returned to the national Government? This person worked in Kakamega. The Government should understand that these are human beings and not toys to play around with. These are lives and people who have children who go to school. Today, as I speak, some county governments are way ahead. They are employing people. However, as they employ, I do not know whether they are also considering that they have staff members who have been around for many years. The Governors say that they were employed by the national Government. These are the same people who voted for them. They have a right to remain as workers of the county governments. While we are playing politics, we are also destroying lives. We know very well that the Jubilee Government has insisted on taking care of people. As we try to remove the Transition Authority (TA), we should also tell Kenyans that the moment this body is removed, counties will have space to do a lot of corruption. The TA should know what happened to the employees, assets and liabilities of any county. We have to be very careful as we deal with the TA considering that in the Constitution, it is very clear in terms of protecting the rights of innocent persons. While governors want to discriminate in terms of whom voted for which party and who did not support who, it is the right of the Senate to stand firm and say that we finished politics and issues of parties. We have now moved on to build Kenya as one country. Therefore, those citizens have a right to benefit in terms of their remuneration, privileges as they did before. I know that this is a very sensitive matter. The TA officers have been seconded as experts to the counties. I think they also have a contract that says that they have been seconded for a certain period. After the period expires, they should go back to the national Government. However, there are some counties that have huge numbers of these people and even ghost workers. I am pleading that we give the Government a better framework that will assist them to ensure that there is no mismanagement and ensure that corruption is done away with. There are those who have reached the age of retirement. However, they need to retire in peace and get their packages. These are some of the things we are asking the Government to look at them so that we come up with processes which are friendly. We should have an environment where every Kenyan can present his case. If a Kenyan has 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."
}