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{
    "id": 393476,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/393476/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 164,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kembi-Gitura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 242,
        "legal_name": "James Kembi Gitura",
        "slug": "kembi-gitura"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to start by thanking the Chief Whip, Sen. Elachi, for bringing this very important Motion. We, as Senators, are the custodians of the counties and county governments. All of us at the Senate agree that devolution is the future of this country. Devolution in plain English is the movement of responsibilities from a higher level to a lower level and the lowest level of the county government is the county assembly. I am a very strong supporter and defender of devolution and I sincerely believe that the future of this country, the development of this country and whether or not we shall achieve our goals and dreams as enunciated in Vision 2030 will very much depend on how serious we take devolution. I believe that devolution is the catalyst to the development of this country and it is the link that we have missed for so long. It is what we need to nurture and take very serious care of, if we want to achieve our dreams, our visions and our goals. The people dealing with devolution, the most important thing in the wheel of devolution, in my very considered opinion, are the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs). If we lose that link in the chain, then devolution is going to be very adversely affected. All of us know that very little is happening in the counties at this moment. The reason is what we are talking about; because of the Sarah Serem situation where she has almost completely refused to listen or engage the county assemblies so that they can reach a comprise, a middle ground level or reach an agreement on what the MCAs need to be paid. This is not a small issue because if the MCAs are demoralized or go on strike like they are doing now, it means that the county governments led by governors do not have anybody carrying out oversight role over them. If there is no oversight to the governors, then you can be sure that they will do what they want. They will rampage in the counties and they are going to do what they want to do because they know that nobody is doing oversight above them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what is this oversight role and why is it so important? I submit that that is the most important role that we can deal with because in the same way that the National Assembly does oversight over the national Government, that is, the National Assembly has power to summon Cabinet Secretaries to explain themselves in the way they are running the national Government. It is the same way that the Members of county assemblies have that role and the power to call the executive officers of the county so that they are answerable to them on the budget and the way they are running counties. If they 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."
}