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{
    "id": 404416,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/404416/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 260,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I also happen to sit in the Committee on Energy, Roads and Transportation and we have had our share of issues. The one problem that we have had, and that has been demonstrated not only in this country, is overlap. For example, we will have a person saying that he did a bridge using the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), another one will say that he did the same using the Uwezo Fund and the other one using donors like UNDP. How then will we have accountability? How will we account to the people of this country that even the funds that we are charged to oversight, as a Senate, are being put to good use? We need to provide the right information and I think that it is a culture that we really do not have and we hardly read things as Kenyan people. That was demonstrated even in the Westgate incident, where all shops were looted apart from the bookshop. I would suggest that the people who are opposing this Bill should, first of all, take the time to go through it. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I hope that we will lead from the front and give the right information. That way, we will create order and reporting mechanisms, so that we do not have even corruption being devolved to the counties. That is something that we also must be very careful about. This is because I cannot do the oversight role without knowing what you put even in your budget. That has been a deliberate omission and we need to be really open-minded and put it on the table. We should enable this Senate and Parliament in general to play that oversight role and coordinate development, so that you do not also choose that as a Governor, since I come from Kangema Constituency, and Kiharu did not support me, I will concentrate development in other four constituencies and leave out the one that did not support me; or if I have a problem with the Member of Parliament for a certain constituency, then I will leave out the people of that specific constituency. We must realize that the moment we are put in office; whether by an overwhelming majority or whatever, it means that there are people who had faith in you and you also respect the others who did not have faith in you. When we talk of the President today, he is not a President of only the people who voted for him, but of everyone. That way, we will be able to create a very clean legal engagement, monitor progress and make sure that devolution works. Already when something goes wrong, then it is blamed on the Senate, because we are the people responsible to oversight the counties and make sure that development goes to the people. It is our constitutional duty to make that happen. It is also our constitutional duty, as legislators, to come up with these legal frameworks to make things smoother and better. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I hope that we will be able to demystify misinformation about this Bill. I think that it is propaganda and would urge everyone to read the Bill. I think that the Senate has led discussions on this Bill. We believe that we will be able to sit down and deliberate on issues and not just on hearsay. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}