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{
    "id": 404474,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/404474/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 32,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, it also informs the planning process. In my view, this is very critical. Counties are required by law to prepare a five year integrated development plan. How many of us in this Senate today have been involved in that process of developing the five year development plans for their counties? I will be surprised. How many Members of Parliament have been involved and yet those development plans have already been bound, prepared and sent to the national government offices to enable them access money from the Controller of Budget? It is very important that the leaders of a county are actually involved in such development plans. This consultation also helps to coordinate the utilization of devolved funds. Today, there are devolved funds for roads which are managed by Members of the National Assembly; there are devolved funds for CDF and there is also the Uwezo Fund. All these things need to be coordinated. It is very essential that we have a forum where these views can be brought together. Therefore, this is a very vital aspect of the whole Bill. In my view, it is also necessary because devolution is a new thing that has started. It is a transitional programme and in transition, we have hiccups, challenges and problems but that forum provides an opportunity for the leadership of the county to address those challenges. We have seen challenges in recruitment and selection process. Due to this, it is very important to address those transitional challenges. If you go through the report, there are various views from the county assemblies, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and other institutions. One of those views is from the county assemblies. They are concerned that if this Bill is passed, part of their mandate would have been ceded to this forum. Their concern is that the forum has some executive mandates. If you look at the Bill where it talks about consideration, I agree, in my view, that it amounts to some executive role which can be done by the county executive and which is within their mandate. When it talks about “to consider or approve plans”, I think these responsibilities can be within the mandate of the county assemblies. Therefore, in my view, to address their concerns, we have to amend the Bill at the Third Reading, so that we are only talking about recommending rather than adopting a particular plan or budget. This is an advisory forum and not an executive forum. The risk of being executive is that we will have moral challenges later on; that we order a particular project to be done and when it comes to oversight, this same Senate or the National Assembly will have a challenge in addressing the project if things go wrong. I think that advisory role is important where we recommend. In that regard, we are simply complementing the work of the county assemblies. These assemblies have serious challenges. In the Constitution, they are mandated to review the budgets of the counties, consider and approve them. They are mandated to review the development plans and policies of county governments. They are supposed to receive reports of any type in the county government. So, their work is so much that they may not have the capacity and our work is to complement that. We will help them to synthesize the plans the county governments have. In other words, we shall give them the direction needed so that when the reports go to budgets, they would have been synthesized and discussed. Therefore, it would be easier for them to accept or reject at that point. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other concern has been made by the county executive, the governors in particular. They are concerned that we are usurping their power to set the 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"
}