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{
    "id": 402348,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/402348/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 191,
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    "content": "not they would allow certain functions to counties. There are various challenges, of course, because the counties were not treated differently; they were treated uniformly. Therefore, one would have to critically analyze the appeals, whether they will have to be granted separately or uniformly. That is an exercise that we will do after getting representations from the county executive. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Sessional Committee on Devolved Government has proposed questions to the various teams that will be used for appeal. They are very important questions, including assessing the capacity of the counties, managerial and technical expertise within the county and issues to do with supporting legislation. If you go to some of the counties, unfortunately because of the strike and other incapacities, they have not been able to put in place legislation at the local level that can assist in management of a particular function. Therefore, it is important to asses that and to listen to what the county governments have to say about the legal framework at the local level. It is also to do with the infrastructure that will ensure that citizens are able to participate in governance at the local level and among the various institutions and then whether or not this function can be transferred in phases or at once. This exercise is important and it is the ultimate objective of every Senator and this House to ensure that functions and services are not interrupted in the process of transfer of functions to the counties. It is important to also ensure that we do not just transfer functions at the expense of service delivery to the people and neither should we hold functions at the national level at the expense of service delivery at the local level. Already, there are a lot of complaints from the health sector as to whether or not the county governments are able to manage staff at the county level and whether this will enhance health standards or not. These are things that when we go to the ground, we should be able to inquire and listen to. It is time for the Senators to engage in exchanging ideas with the county executive, particularly about investments. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to go on record that the example that we are reading and watching from Machakos County is a good example. We should think about having mega investments for every county. We should borrow from this kind of example so that we do not just think about revenue allocation from the national Government, but the revenue we are raising from the local level. I was told that Machakos County is building an office whose cost is over Kshs100 million, but very little amount is being spent from the national Government allocation. They are able to mobilize investors and well wishers to donate to the construction of the building. In fact, their only cost is the labour services. We need the counties to be a little bit innovative in the manner in which they are going to spend their resources. They should prioritize the things that they will spend on and focus on issues that will deliver to the people at the local level. This House is a representation of the whole country, but a Governor only represents one county. It baffles me sometimes when you see a Governor of one particular area busy every weekend issuing statements in various counties without telling the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) whether they went there for benchmarking or to collect information that is necessary to build their county. If you see a Senator from this House going to Busia, there is a reason because he is representing Busia at the same time. However, for a Governor, the idea was to have a manager or a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who is based in the county thinking about"
}