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{
    "id": 393013,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/393013/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 226,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Obure",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 118,
        "legal_name": "Christopher Mogere Obure",
        "slug": "christopher-obure"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity. First of all, I want to thank the Members of the two committees for the Report that has been submitted to this House. I think that they have done a wonderful job. The visit to the two counties in the Coast has provided the Members of the Committee a wonderful and useful opportunity to engage members of the county executive, county assemblies and the citizens themselves who reside there in discussions on matters that affect their own welfare and management of their counties. Those discussions have also highlighted the various challenges facing devolution. Madam Temporary Speaker, I just wanted to highlight a few of the challenges which have been identified and are contained in the Report that we are now debating. From the Report, it has been confirmed that many people around the country do not understand what devolution is about. They do not understand the roles and functions of the various players involved in the process of devolution. Since there is no adequate understanding of the various functions and roles, this has created conflicts based on sometimes very wild perceptions about the roles of each of those players. Madam Temporary Speaker, this Report has also clearly stated that many of our citizens in our various counties have not really felt the impact of devolution; they have not benefitted from the activities of their county governments. They have not seen any improvement in service delivery. In short, they have not felt the fruits of devolution. This is true because I think we have taken far too long to settle down; far too long to put systems in place; far too long for people to understand the process and, far too long in establishing and preparing ourselves to start delivering services to the people. These factors come out very clearly from these reports. It also comes out very clearly that many of our counties are facing budget deficits. Of course, we have been aware of this fact for a very long time, even from the time we were debating the question of division of revenue. It was pointed out and this point was made clearly and loudly that many of our countries will run into difficulties. Some of them have very huge deficits and part of this problem is because of the huge payroll and the huge amounts reflected in the Recurrent Expenditure. So, we must clearly do something about it so that more and more funds can be made available for development activities. I think it is very important so that we can use this to really bargain with the national Government. Madam Temporary Speaker, I think there is need for the national Government to understand that it is at the county level that a majority of our citizens live. Therefore, it is at the county level where we should channel most of our resources because that is where poverty is biting and that is where services are needed. There is no point of retaining this money at the national level. This money should go down so that it is used for the benefit of the people to improve the welfare and living conditions of the people at the counties. We have said this many times before. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}