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{
    "id": 404061,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/404061/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 283,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is my pleasure to second this very important Bill which shows that the Senate is entering into its second phase of development. We are moving away from Motions which appeal to the Government to do “a”, “b” and “c” to what we are elected to do, which is legislation. To me, this is one of the most important legislations and we should thank the originator of the Bill, Sen. Sang of Nandi County, one of the youngest Senators in this House, for coming up with this excellent Bill. The Bill, as usual, was referred to us; the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Therefore, I will focus on the technical aspect of it since Sen. Sang has told us what this Bill is all about. We want to make sure that this Bill becomes constitutional. In accordance with our mandate, we held public hearings. Amongst the public entities that came before us – this is mentioned on page 2 of our Report – were the CIC, the Governors Council, the County Assembly Speakers Forum, FIDA Kenya; The Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Pamoja Trust and the Multi-level Government Initiative, Sen. Kiraitu Murungi, Delarua Residents Association and Zacharia John. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a number of them raised various objections which I have just enumerated for the purposes of the record. One of the objections was that the Bills is unconstitutional in that the board is likely to interfere with the county Government. That is the county executive and the county assembly who to them were the only institutions that have powers to prepare, approve and implement all county development plans, projects and budgets. The other objection was that the Bill as it stood involved Senators, Members of the National Assembly and Members of the County Assembly and, therefore, created a conflict of interest. They thought that conflict of interest was tantamount to interfering with their oversight role. The third one was that this oversight role has been given to the Senate corporately and does not grant individual Senators specific oversight responsibility over the counties that elected them. It is the county assembly in those counties which elected them which has an oversight role over the county executive committee. Another objection that was raised was that the proposed Bill conflicts or duplicates the functions of the Intergovernmental Relations Act. The Bill goes into what is essentially the business of county governments. Another objection was that it interferes with the budget making processes at the county level set out in the Public Finance Management Act and the County Government Act. The body would, therefore, duplicate the functions of the already established forums under the Act. They also mentioned that there was also a conflict of interest as Members of the county assemblies sitting on the Board will make recommendations and then go thereafter, sitting as the county assembly to exercise their constitutional role in approving the budget. 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"
}