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{
    "id": 445588,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/445588/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 170,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Oyugi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 444,
        "legal_name": "Augostinho Neto Oyugi",
        "slug": "augostinho-neto-oyugi"
    },
    "content": "I shared with hon. Mule that what we need to allow lies in Section 25(c) of the Intergovernmental Relations Act. If I read that particular Section, it states thus: “The principles of transfer or delegation of powers, functions and competencies shall ensure that the transfer is in accordance with the procedures set out under this Act or prescribed by regulations made under this Act.” Hon. Speaker, our research this morning and this afternoon shows that, perhaps, there are non-existent regulations that help in performing acts that are envisaged under Section 25(c). So, we need, as a Parliament, to request the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) and the Departmental Committee on Health to come up with regulations that will give effect to Section 25(c). These regulations will do a couple of things. They will hopefully--- My understanding and interpretation of this law is that it only anticipates functions where both levels of government will be agreeable to one level of government thinking that it is unable to perform and the other government being in agreement. The Intergovernmental Relations Act does not anticipate a situation where, for example, the national Government says that the county government is not performing its functions appropriately. Therein lies the problem. If we had regulations that show us how to deal with the county governments when they are not performing their functions appropriately, then we would be able to solve our problems. That leads me to the second recommendation that hon. Mule has made. He speaks to the fact that there is need to set up a task force urgently. This is where we were disagreeing all the time, but I gave in to some middle ground. I think there is no law anywhere, and I had a chance to look at the County Governments Act, the Transition to Devolved Governments Act, the Intergovernmental Relations Act and so on, and there is no where, where the setting up of a task force is anticipated. Dr. Eseli and the other Members of the Departmental Committee on Health were really emotional about this particular bit. It is possible to set up a task force, but only a task force that is regulated under either the law or under regulations as anticipated under Section 25(c) of the Intergovernmental Relations Act. So, whereas it is possible to unlock the problem of devolution, it is also possible to set up a task force that will help in this. However, I do not think that even speaking to the amendment that hon. Mule has moved helps us unlock this. As I said before, I support this amendment in the spirit of helping us move forward. I am requesting the Leader of the Majority Party to request the CIOC to look at the formation of regulations that will show how we can sort out the problem of devolution if at all there will be one with regard to agriculture, health, or any other service that will be devolved, and which the Constitution requires to be given to the county governments. Right now we are basically fighting fires in the Departmental Committee on Health. There are other functions that were devolved, for example agriculture and fisheries, but there is no way, in my understanding, in which this particular situation can be sorted out. What this needs is an inquiry in terms of how to make regulations that will help us follow the constitutional process to help unlock the issue of devolution. It is true that we need to move together with the Committee on Health to ensure that healthcare gets attention. That way, the health sector will revert to normalcy. We will know which functions are performed by the county governments and which ones are performed by the national Government. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}