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{
    "id": 446826,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/446826/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Waiganjo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2644,
        "legal_name": "John Muriithi Waiganjo",
        "slug": "john-muriithi-waiganjo"
    },
    "content": "part talks about the penalties. Without provision for penalties, a governor may decide not to even convene the board. Of course, making the governor the vice-chairperson of the board is good. The governor is the Chief Executive Officer. To expect him to sit as the chair of the board would have been a challenge. At the same time, to make him a secretary would seem to alienate him. I am a little sad about this Bill though. The mother Bill that we rejected had attempted to say that the County Woman Representatives would be the vice-chair. This Bill is silent on the vice-chair. It does not say who will elect the vice-chair. That bit has been left hanging. I would have wanted to see a situation where it has a clause to say that in their first meeting, there would be an election of the vice-chair. Nevertheless, the inclusion of the Member of Parliament in this Bill is very important. Hon. Speaker, we have been running our sub-counties without the benefit of information from the county government. We have been running our respective constituencies without a word from the County Ward Representatives on what they are doing with the money allocated to them by the county governments. The governors have completed locked out Members of Parliament in the management of the county affairs. So, this is a Bill we cannot afford to lose. We need to pass it, so that we can share information and be able to play oversight at that level. Previously, a Member of Parliament would ask questions on what was going on in their constituencies on matters related to the county and he would be told to go to the national Government. Just as my colleague said, we are representatives of the people. We represent people, and not counties. Hon. Speaker, the people of Ol Jorok, for instance, would ask me questions related to development of roads in that constituency but when I ask for an audit of how much money has been spent on which roads in the constituency, I may not get the information. Sitting in the proposed board will enable me to get the information first hand. In any event, freedom of information is a human rights issue. Information is power as well. So, this is a Bill which will also bring equality between sub-counties of a particular county. Constituencies within a county will get equal allocation of resources and development. Some governors would want to skew the allocation of resources and channel more resources towards the constituencies they come from or where they got solid support. The proposed board will serve as a consultative forum. Therefore, we will be able to know how much money has been allocated to which constituency."
}