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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, in my county, Members of the National Assembly have agreed that they will concentrate more of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) money on education infrastructure. In fact, more money is being given to education, so that they can leave matters of roads, bridges and health facilities to be done by the county government. If the CDF money, in the interim, would be spent on education alone, the results will be seen in a short while. I think that even as we work on the transfer of that function to the counties and agreements being worked on, my advice to the CDF committees and Members of the National Assembly is to apply more money on education infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the second last issue was security. Sen. Orengo and the Senate Minority Leader discussed the issue of devolving security to the counties. I was among the first people to say that there must be a proper role by the county governments on matters security. But the conduct of the Governors over the past one year has negated that argument. This is because if the Governor cannot sit and share information with his Senator, it means that if they become the chairman of the county police authority, some of them in the manner that they are behaving now, can easily use that power against the Senator. So, the Governor might order for the arrest of the Senator for Bungoma, because the power has been given to him. So, indeed, it is important for our Governors to demonstrate that maturity that goes with handling security matters. Otherwise, if this supremacy issue continues, this House will be reluctant to agree that more security functions should go to an entity that is managed by people who are pursuing petty agenda. By the time someone is the commander-in-chief or commanding the police division, there is high level of discipline that is expected of that person. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as proposed by the Senate Minority Leader, maybe we should start by saying that the Governor should be the chair of the Nyumba Kumi Initiative in every county, as a way of enhancing the non-policing functions of security, as they move gradually to other functions. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Constitution in its preamble, says that Kenya is one indivisible sovereign nation, which exercises a devolved system of Government. So, the part of “one indivisible sovereign nation” must be emphasized. This is because I have gone for meetings where you sit and then somebody says: “Mheshimiwa Rais.” When you look back, you realize that “Mheshimiwa Rais” is the Governor of that county. I am not exaggerating; I have been there. It is important that we continue emphasizing the issue of unity. That is why what the Senate Minority Leader said about water and all other natural resources is very important. This is because once we begin to have boundaries for resources that are supposed to benefit the whole country, then we will put our country in a situation of anarchy. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I believe that the functions that we will devolve now will lead to the final stage of taking functions to the counties. Therefore, gazetting should be done soon and counties should prepare. Now the debate will shift from transfer of functions to 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."
}