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"content": "budget, you actually need leaders to guide the process. So, I think this process will also enrich public participation and also avoid duplication. We have very clear risks of duplication. For example, the entire health sector has been devolved to the county governments and they have planned to finance their health activities but at the national level, there are so many projects and programmes which are being funded by donors. The money is being sent, and it has already happened, the first tranche of this money by the Ministry of Health called KHSSF has been sent down, the hospitals had already provided for that money for purchase of goods and services. This is a case of duplication. So, between the national Government and the Members of the National Assembly which have devolved funds and the county governments, it is important to have this forum so that we avoid situations of duplication. We have seen situations where you want to put up a borehole, the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are also putting up the same, the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation (NWCPC) is doing the same, the Ministry of Water is doing the same and the county governments are doing the same. This leads to a lot of confusion. So, this forum will also help in these matters. It also gives the national Government input. Currently, the national Government input is unknown. This means that the people at the county, as they plan and budget, do not know what the national Government is providing for but Members of Parliament know what the various Ministries are provided for in the national Government estimates. So, we can feed that information into the county governments planning process. I think this is very important and it is happening now. Many of us do know this; if you go to the Ministry, you will be surprised that there are allocations for your counties in respect of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water and so on. This is important to the counties’ planning system so that the county Government does not duplicate roles in that particular area. This is very important. I think in that regard, it also helps us when planning at the county level to plan in a national sense, because there are national blueprints for development, like the Vision 2030. If you leave things merely to the county Government, we may not fit into the national development plans of the country. I think this forum will help us to develop county plans and budgets that can be off- tailed into the Vision 2030 and other national blueprints. Mr. Speaker, Sir, even with all those benefits that we can get from this Bill, it is important to appreciate that there are people out there who do not appreciate even the functions of the Senate. It is surprising that in this day and age, there are leaders in this country who are even Members of the National Assembly, who do not even appreciate the role of the Senate in this process of devolution. Therefore, we are surprised that there are people who can call for the scrapping of the Senate and at the same time tell us that they stand for devolution yet if you look at the Constitution, it rests on certain pillars. Devolution is built on certain foundations and one of them is this institution called the Senate. The other is the county assembly. So, with regard to the Senate, if you do not have this institution, basically what you are saying is that you are removing some columns on which this building is standing and it will collapse in due course. In particular, there is no positive history of the National Assembly of this country supporting devolution. In the 1960s, they were singularly responsible for the scrapping, not only of the Senate, but of the system of devolution that was inherited at Independence. The National Assembly worked in cohorts with the Executive to scrap it. 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"
}