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"id": 469509,
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, although he observed that some of these are debts are statutory deductions and so forth, there are some that are questionable. Some of them were incurred through some dubious contracts that were done by the previous local authorities and, therefore, there is need that before these debts are wholly committed to the National Government to pay, they should be properly audited to ascertain which ones are payable and which ones were accrued through some dubious contracts. I, therefore, want to support and second in the strongest terms the amendment moved by Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you ask any Kenyan about the new Constitution, they will tell you the biggest gain in the new Constitution is the whole idea of devolution. Kenyans are optimistic about devolution; Kenyans see an opportunity to develop the country equitably through devolution. Therefore, we, as the custodians of devolution, the Senate, must ensure that Kenyans, indeed, reap full benefits of devolution as envisaged in our Constitution. It will be disastrous, it will be disappointing to the Kenyans, it will be a failure on our part as the Senate if, at the end of the five years, Kenyans have not benefitted from devolution as it is envisaged in the Constitution. Kenyans expect to get good roads, good infrastructure, good hospitals and health centres; good learning institutions and good services through the whole idea of devolution and yet, we all know that there are some very powerful forces in the national Government that are hell bent to ensure that devolution does not succeed. This is done through meagre allocation of resources – Sen. Wetangula said it very clearly that the formula for allocation of resources is very clear – and yet some elements in the National Government want it to appear as if they are doing a favour to the county governments. Clearly, they want the devolution or the county governments to fail. That is how we come in as a Senate to ensure that county governments and devolution succeed in this country. Putting the burden of paying old debts on county governments is even stifling them more, considering that they are getting very meagre allocations from the National Government. If you add that to the fact that they have to pay old debts from councils, then Kenyans would not reap the benefits they would want to reap from devolution. These county governments will not construct the roads we expect them to construct, build health sectors and other health facilities and to give the services we expect them to give. Therefore, that is why it is proper for these debts to be taken over by the National Government and as said by Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o, after a proper scrutiny to know which ones are genuine debts. Sen. Murungi observed it earlier that this will not be the first time. This was done for the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), Kenya Airways and I can even add to the list the National Bank which was rescued by the Government. Therefore, this will not be anything new. We want the county governments to start on a clean slate. We expect very much from them. They have been given a lot of responsibilities by the Constitution and, therefore, the resources we allocate them must be commensurate with the responsibilities they have. For devolution to succeed, this Senate must fully support the county governments and ensure that they get what rightfully belongs to them as it is provided for in our Constitution. 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."
}