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{
    "id": 421534,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/421534/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 140,
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    "content": "NARC Government did very well between 2003 and 2007 was because the problem was posed in a fundamental manner. We came up with the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERSWEC). Create wealth first, then other things will follow. One of the reasons why devolution was created and has been struggled for, for so many years, is because it is a way of creating wealth from the grassroots level. When you talk about empowering people, you do not empower people with words, you empower people with material well-being. So, if we could, first of all, grasp the one fundamental fact about devolution, that investments must begin from the grassroots level and empower people with wealth, then other things will follow. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, unfortunately, we are trying to approach this from the national executives point of view by following old methods like creating funds like Uwezo Funds and creating various entities away from devolved government to handle these funds, particularly within the national government structure. That defeats the purpose of devolution. Get all these investments within devolved government, empower devolved government to handle wealth creation properly, eliminate those weaknesses in governance at the devolved government level. Do not do away with the empowerment of devolved government because of some of the problems inherent in running a government; then we shall begin creating wealth from the grassroots level and we shall empower people from the grassroots level. When we do so, empowered people from the point of view of material well-being will be able to pay taxes. But you cannot begin taxing people who do not have the material well-being to produce the money. You will only stifle the ability to empower these people to create wealth. So, if, indeed, the national government was then prepared to have this debate of enlightening people about devolution through radio, television and so on, then Kenyans will come up with a lot of ideas. I see people in this Senate who have very good ideas about devolution that can educate people. However, they are silent about it because they do not have an avenue to express these things. It is the responsibility of the national Government to create these avenues of dialoguing with the Kenyan people so that we know more about devolution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is not good to cry, wail and complain. There seems to be a chorus in this country with regard to who is responsible for killing devolution. Everybody is claiming that everybody else is responsible for killing devolution and nobody is taking the responsibility for killing devolution. We are wondering whether this is a real issue or whether it is a mere battle for finding where the yellow logarithm is. You know that problem in Mathematics? Nobody has ever found out where the yellow logarithm is. In that regard, I would like to appeal now as follows. First, devolved Government is here to stay. However, it is also true that while it is here to stay, this must result into some kind of concrete change in the lives of our people. These are the people at the grassroots and we must make devolution meaningful to them. It is not good to have devolution when a most fundamental aspect of Government – security - is becoming a problem at the grassroots level. For example, what is happening between Nyakatch Constituency and Konoin; the one next to it, is absolutely ridiculous. In this day and age, we need to profile ourselves as a stable prosperous democratic nation. If we will have news nationally and internationally that portrays us as tribal warlords fighting each other 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."
}