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{
    "id": 404040,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/404040/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 262,
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    "content": "Tinderet Constituency and in those areas, people are raising issues with regard to value addition on sugar cane; or that I travelled to the other constituency and the issues being raised are X, Y and Z; but most importantly, that all of us in that platform or Board are able to discuss and agree on implementation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the fate of the Senator, the Members of the National Assembly and the MCAs are tied to the fate of the governor. If a county is going to fail, that responsibility will squarely lie on all the elected leadership and, therefore, we must create a sense of collective responsibility with regard to development at the counties. Over the weekend after the launch of the mega city by Machakos County, I went to some of the parts within my county and the question that I was facing from my residents is: “How is it that Machakos County is launching a mega project and you, the leaders we elected in Nandi, are launching cattle dips and very small things in the constituencies?” I did not have answers for the same because I cannot explain to them that, that is not my responsibility. I do not think it is important for us to tell wananchi to start shifting blame when they raise issues with us. It is very important for all of us to create a platform that gives us an opportunity to have collective responsibility so that when issues are raised by the residents or citizens we represent, we collectively take the opportunity, sit down within our County Development Boards and address some of those issues. Mr. Speaker, Sir, soon, one of the major challenges which will face our county governments is the challenge of a lot of resources going to recurrent expenditure and very little resources being available for development projects. How do we sit down as the leadership at the county and agree on apportioning, for example, the percentages that would go to recurrent expenditure and the percentages that would go to development expenditure? You cannot do this unless you have a sitting where all of you can agree as a leadership within your various counties. It would be absurd to imagine that my friend, the Senator for Kisii, would have an equal say with regard to some of the development projects that go on in Nandi. You do not expect the Senators to come together in Nairobi, sit down within the Senate and just discuss things in absurdity instead of going down to the grassroots, where they were elected, to participate in the development processes within their counties. These County Development Boards seek to address these particular challenges that the Constitution and the existing legislation may not have captured. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is also important to mention that within the devolution laws, during the process – and we have the advantage that some of the Senators in this House were Members of the Taskforce on Devolution that went round this country, thought through some of the legislative proposals with regard to devolution – and some of the things that we seek to introduce at this level were already thought through. When we will be discussing the report by the Senate Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, this will be abundantly clear; that some of these structures that we are proposing through this amendment had already been thought through by the Taskforce on Devolved Government. 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"
}