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{
    "id": 397861,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/397861/?format=api",
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    "content": "discuss that, it will not be a point of misunderstanding between us and the county governments. Madam Temporary Speaker, planning is a very important process of policy making and policy execution. It is always said that if you do not have a good plan, you do not know where you are going. Wahenga walisema, penye nia hapakosi njia. So, the plan gives you the road where you are going. Therefore, so far, the county governments have all been engaged in integrated development plans for their counties, but in this first attempt, we must understand and excuse the process because there was no prior practice and they did not have any best practices to look at. So, it was something that was being done to satisfy the requirements of getting money. In French, it is called bricolage, which is a mason trying to build a wall without knowing the architecture, but trying to put their best to put things together. I do believe that these integrated plans that the counties have so far been making have not been informed by a proper architecture because this is the first time. But I do believe that what the law that we are trying to propose is going to do is to provide proper architecture for planning at the county level, so that the integrated development plans that will subsequently come from the counties will be better informed and, therefore, when money is being given to counties, they are being given on the basis of proper plans that come from the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, you realize that even the national Government - if you look at the history of this country – at Independence time, we had to grope for quite some time before we agreed on what type of planning was going to guide the nation and hence the importance of Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965 of African Socialism and its application to planning in Kenya. That title was very important. There was no need talking about an ideology without applying it to planning. At the same time, there is no need talking about devolution without applying it to planning. I do believe that we are now set on a very good stage to begin putting devolved government on a sound footing by having proper planning for devolved government. I think these resources that we have given to the counties, if you look at the figures, you will find that they differ from one county to the other. The whole idea of giving resources is not so much everybody should be the same. That would not even make sense of the concept like the Equalisation Fund. It is that the money given should meet the felt needs of a particular county that addresses concrete problems whose solution would make a difference in transforming the life of people in that particular county. So, the challenges to our Committee and, indeed, the challenges to this House would be for us, as Senators, not to begin comparing and complaining that my county has got so much less than the other counties, but begin thinking critically in terms of; what does my county need to solve certain problems in order to transform positively lives in our various counties. Of course, to begin with, the resources are not going to be enough in Government because they are never enough. But what is available? How it is critically used to address the critical needs of each county and over a period of time and how the efficient use of those resources actually transforms lives positively? I think this should be the approach of this Senate in discussing the various allocations of funds that differ from one county to the other. 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."
}