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{
    "id": 424743,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/424743/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 131,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "why there was a lot of disparity and outcry all over the country. It is up to our House to ensure that we give some overall framework to all these laws that are being made so that county governments can use them when they are legislating on various issues such as health, finance, education and so on. As we go forward, this is very important. Those are some of the businesses they need to take into account. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another business that this Committee needs to take into account is the visits to the counties. Some of our committees have not visited many counties. For example, the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Economic Affairs has only been to about three or four counties. Going forward, it will be necessary, from what we have seen in the media and the reports, that it is vital that the committees of this House visit the counties so that we are on top of the situation. What is happening is that our colleagues who are in the assemblies in the counties may not be very well conversant with the way legislators can play their oversight role. They may not have the capacity to interrogate the reports and the plans that are submitted by the county governments. What we have seen clearly in the reports is that there is need for us to engage with the county assemblies at the county level and even at the level of the House so that we have those institutions carry out as much of their responsibilities as possible. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other thing which the Members of this Committee need to appreciate is that as the first year comes to an end, since the county governments were established, the institutions which are charged with reporting, like the Controller of Budget and the Auditor-General, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, are beginning to churn out reports. All these reports procedurally have to come to the various committees for discussions. They then have to find their way to the plenary for whatever recommendations the committees give. For example, we are aware that already the Auditor-General has concluded financial audits of some of the counties. They have already submitted the reports to the Senate. Our committee from tomorrow at mid day will be reviewing some of those audit reports. We have received about six reports of about six counties. Other reports will be brought later. As we finish with them, we will be inviting the governors to respond to the queries from the Auditor-General. It is important that we make this point to our colleagues who are managing the counties that ours is not an adversarial relationship. We are supposed to work together with the county governors so that devolution succeeds. When we get these reports, for example, on the report from the Auditor-General, the Constitution says that within three months we should be able to debate them, make recommendations and give whatever actions we think are necessary. That is the law. So, we will be sending all those reports to the House after our committee looks at them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, arising from that, definitely there are a lot of issues that will come up because the challenge that we have is that the expectations of Kenyans at the county level is that those counties are not being run. But for ourselves as the Senate, we need to look at certain procedures. We will not merely go by the assumptions that: Huyuni corrupt, ni mbaya . We need to look at the reports from the Auditor-General and based on that, we interrogate and then we bring the reports here. So, there will be all those reports that will be coming in from all the committees. 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."
}