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{
    "id": 468121,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/468121/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 321,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "governments on the basis of principles set out in the Constitution, avoid wastages, avoid corruption and avoid expenditures that cannot be justified. In Nigeria, when they started having this devolved system of government, although they have gone beyond Kenya because they have a truly federal system, many governors ended up in prison. There are many Nigerian governors who are serving sentences in the United Kingdom (UK) having messed up their states. They ran away from justice and went to other countries. So, the systems of those countries where they ran to caught up with them. Since we have a constitutional provision that any county that does not run its affairs well, can be impeached or impugned, it is important that our governors and county governments begin on the right note. The devolved systems of government are supposed to replace the structures of the national Government as it was at the beginning although there is now duplication. I want to say that the Provincial Commissioner or the District Commissioner could do with a Land Rover running around in a county and without escorts. This loud exemplification of consumption, that you are not a governor until you have a trail of vehicles, a big office or extra security, I want to submit that this is the wrong beginning. There was a time when I was so impressed in Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, when I was boarding a plane in Arusha. We waited for a few minutes then the Prime Minister of Sweden came, escorted by Mwalimu Nyerere. He was just sitting there and not even in the business class with his staff. That was the head of a whole government of a first world country sitting there. The leader of that government was just sitting there unnoticed in a public transport service. So, I want to be convinced that the beginning of the end for the system of devolution may sometimes not come from the national government but from these structures. I have heard what many Senators have said here; that we may have had a false start in many of these counties. So, the governors should be able to look at the Constitution and find out why these devolved systems were necessary. It was to take resources to the ground, equitability and justice on the ground and also for self governance on the ground. Within those counties, what they require of the national Government to do, that is, fair distribution of resources, that even those counties, should show that they can do it better than the national Government so that within the county, the resources are shared in an equitable manner and even in terms of human resource where they should show that they must recruit people from all the areas. Having said that, the money that has been given to these counties - it is true that this system of devolved government cannot succeed without resources; it cannot work. Talking about Kshs198 billion for 47 governments in an economy where the national Government is collecting more than Kshs1.3 trillion, then we must start asking ourselves some questions; where are the services required? Is it at the national level or the county level? The Government collects taxes in order to provide services. The Government may engage in capital expenditure like infrastructure in order to attract more investment but a lot of revenue collected by the Government is towards making sure that people get services. It has already ceded all the functions that are set out in the Schedule of the Constitution. These have been surrendered to the county governments. The county governments must be very careful because they may be set out for failure. 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."
}