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"content": "we have the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) which we give them. The Uwezo Fund has also gone there and so on, to enable them to play that particular role. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Senator has no public funds to be able to also meet the needs of our people at the local level. However, the people at the local level are really looking up to the Senator of the county to meet those needs. They are looking at the Senator to pay school fees for some of the children, meet medical expenses and do all sort of things, without realizing that, actually, the Senator has no public funds and the Senator’s role is a bit different from the role of the Member of National Assembly. Therefore, civic education is very necessary for people to understand what our role is, so that when it comes to 2017, they judge us properly on what our role is and not what they thought our role ought to be. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not think that the people of Kenya really know where the national Government stops and county government takes over; what the functions of the county government are, and so on. It is so mixed up. I think that civic education will enable this to happen. When I talk about the people of Kenya, I am not just referring to the people at the grassroots level, but even us. We are also part of the people of Kenya. We need to educate ourselves on what our role should be. The holders of the various constitutional offices also need to educate themselves on what their role should be under the new Constitution. Likewise, the Members of the Cabinet need to educate themselves on what their role should be. This applies also to the Members of the County Assemblies, the Judiciary and so on. The mindset of some people is still the mindset of the way things used to happen under the old Constitution which was centralized. They have not yet made that shift; that this is a new system altogether. Therefore, civic education has to be mounted at all levels; that is, the level of the people, Members of the National Assembly, the Judiciary, the Executive and, more particularly, civil servants in the Government. This is because the civil servants whom we have today are the same ones who used to be there under a centralized system of Government. Therefore, their entire mindset is about a centralized system of Government. It becomes very difficult for them to change that mindset to now come to the level where they will now say: This is a decentralized system of Government and although I used to do this thing this way in the past, now it is not for me to do it this other way; it has to be devolved to the devolved government. So, civic education is necessary. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is to this lack of understanding and lack of civic education that I can attribute many of the problems that we have encountered today in the implementation of our Constitution, and will still encounter them up to today. People need to be educated. Fortunately for us, the aim of civic education has been clearly set out. If you look at Sections 98 and 99 of the County Governments Act, they have clearly set out the principles, purpose and objectives of civic education. The principles of civic education are intended to promote empowerment and enlightenment of citizens and the Government. People must be empowered and enlightened on the provisions of this Constitution. People must be aware that, in fact, this Constitution has empowered them. One sometimes tends to get the feeling that they are still not aware. They still bow down to institutions and so on, when they should really know that they are actually the bosses of those institutions. They should not only know that, but act that way. 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."
}