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{
"id": 415336,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/415336/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "February 14, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 32 Sen. Wangari",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion. I have a saying that goes: In the world there are sets of people who are evil. There are those who actually orchestrate evil deeds and those who actually just sit back and watch. We hear from the Committee that, regarding everything, Governor Wambora was saying that it was not him. The buck must stop somewhere. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Constitution vests the sovereignty to the people of this country. It can only be delegated to the leadership that we elect. That said, it means then that everyone in the leadership of this country must take responsibility; whether you are a ward representative, Speaker, Senator or Governor. There is nobody who is above this Constitution. It pains me when we are trivializing matters, to touch on the stomach. A report was published the other day and we read it in the media. We actually saw people starving; women who cannot even have milk to breastfeed their children. They may not have come from Embu, but that is exactly where they were being taken by this Governor. It is not trivial; it is quite a business. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I listen to some of the things the Governor was saying as has been presented in this House, when you trivialize Kshs8 million, and you say, surely, that Kshs8 million can only be used to plant grass in a field, how many people can I feed with Kshs8 million? Very many! It is not only contempt, it is disgrace and it is lack of respect for the people of this county. Mr. Speaker, Sir, history will judge us very harshly if we sit back and watch as this happens, not only in Embu; we must send out very clear signals that even if we will protect devolution, if we have to protect counties from the County Governments, then we will have to do so; because that is the role that has been vested on this House. We cannot sit back and look as children are starving, and we are thinking that money is small money. It is public money. So, there are no two ways about it; everyone must be held accountable; transparency must be ensured in the counties; transparency must be ensured in every office. When Kenyans voted for this Constitution, they were hopeful that services would get closer to them. They were hoping that they would not have to rely on going to Nairobi for services; they would not have to come all the way from Maralal or Mandera to Nairobi to even get a small service done. This Constitution was meant to bring service closer to the people, and they were really hopeful. It was a savior because they had seen it work with the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) and they had seen it transform their life. Now, this was a bigger kitty which could transform the whole country. So, when we watch devolution and get people doubting whether really this is what they wanted, I think we really must feel sorry for this country because we are hoping that by the end of these five years of transition that we have been given, that we will sit back and audit, and say that devolution was the best thing that happened to this country. But we have seen consistently offices, even the ones that are supposed to help us monitor – the Office of the Controller of Budget; the Office of the Auditor-General – being trashed even in public; and they say it does not matter, we do not need prefects. This must stop! This must stop and it must stop now. We have that responsibility and we cannot run away from it. We cannot postpone it to tomorrow; we have to take it today, and that has to be done before we sleep tonight. The message must be sent out. 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."
}