Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 469447,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/469447/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 58,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "cent, will just be spent on wages, leave alone servicing of debts. In fact, I would urge that this Senate reconsiders any such allocation because if we are going to leave the allocation of Kshs231 billion or even Kshs300 billion, you will still not be dealing with providing services; you will be dealing basically in merely meeting the recurrent expenditure. If you look at the functions of county governments as spelt out in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution from agriculture, to health, to water, to reticulation of electricity and energy; to pre-primary education, to access roads; I mean, if you look at the entire functions of the county governments, these allocations actually will not make it possible for these county governments to stand on their feet. It is upon us, as a Senate, to make sure that, indeed, they can. Indeed, when you go to the country and meet the people as Senators and Governors, there are a lot of expectations. In fact, I think there is a bigger responsibility on Senators – and I sympathize with you because when these problems are detected at that level, they are thrown to the Senator. I was at a meeting on Friday and all the problems to do with the county – which were a myriad, leave alone the issue of debts – they were expecting that it is the individual Senators who will deal with these problems. Therefore, I think as a first step, it will send the right signals that this Senate wants the county governments to work by removing this debt burden in terms of loans and other monies that were incurred in terms of expenditure. But I do not say that this should be a blanket kind of resolution by the Senate. There should be some kind of audit to know which ones are appropriate for takeover by the national Government. In doing this, I think we will start on the right footing. The implementation of the Constitution is not about how it ends; it is about how it begins. So, if we start right on this, then I think the county governments will last. But if we start on the wrong footing, then it will be like in 1963, when we had a devolved system of Government which was denied revenue and the original commissioners – no, commissioners were introduced later – but each region had a president; they became nominal figures in the national governance arrangement and eventually, that system of government died. But in order to make sure that this system of government continues, I think this Motion should be supported. So, Mr. Speaker, without further ado, I beg to move and ask Sen. Kiraitu Murungi to second. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir."
}