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{
    "id": 402353,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/402353/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 196,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "coming tomorrow. When we go to them, they tell us that this function does not belong to the county governments yet we are told that we have capacity to build hospitals. However, we are told that we do not have capacity to take care of our trees. To me, this does not make any logical sense. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to look into those assets, particularly in Makueni County where I am glad that we have been given 13.6 per cent as our forest cover and we want to protect our water towers. This is one of those issues that we must deal with firmly. Otherwise, this asset called forest or water will disappear when all of us are concentrating on putting up nice buildings and purchasing nice cars and not concentrating on the future. There have also been reported disputes between Governors and Senators, Governors and the TA, et cetera . There has also been a move to disband the TA. This is the time for the Senate to demonstrate that under that Act, the only method of dealing with some of these issues is through Section 23 of the Act. In my view, there is a complete framework for the Senate to get involved as a prefect of the counties. If there are disputes among counties, the Senate can intervene to resolve them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, ultimately, when we come to the Senate and make a final decision as to whether or not we need to transfer further functions to our counties, I dare say that we will have made a decision that we will have to take ultimate responsibility as Senators to this country because we will then be tasked to ensure that those functions are performed. This will give us an additional responsibility to follow up our Governors and say that we are responsible for making sure that you get these functions to the counties and, therefore, there is no reason the counties cannot perform. I support this Motion because we have reached that stage where we cannot just sit back. It is in the public domain that only 23 counties have balanced budgets while the rest do not have. So, we must do an assessment and move to a position where we can check whether or not we have crossed the “Ts” and put dots on the “Is”. In my submission, this is something we must do expeditiously. If for anything, we must finish this and give this country a nice Christmas present by telling them that the Constitution that they voted for so overwhelmingly has finally come to pass and, sooner rather than later, every county will be proud to have their own city. This is because the Senate has made a decision that it is time to devolve these functions from the national Government to the county Government. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}