Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 469514,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/469514/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 125,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Haji",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 26,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Mohammed Haji",
        "slug": "yusuf-haji"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I take this opportunity to thank you for allowing me to contribute to this very important Motion brought by our brother, Sen. Orengo. From the beginning, I would like to support the Motion. The mandate given to the counties through the Constitution is very clear. Under the Fourth Schedule, Article 2, it is stipulated from No.1 to 8 some of the functions that are expected to be undertaken by the county governments. As we all know, counties cannot undertake the mandates which the whole country during the elections went to the polls expecting. Leaders told wananchi that the Constitution had given them the right to have their own system of devolution as stated in the Constitution and that under this system, local leaders who would be elected would undertake the mandates. It would be very sad for the National Government or for anyone else to negate this policy which Kenyans went out and voted for under the referendum, overwhelmingly, hoping that the county governments would take up their responsibilities in ensuring that development is not skewed as we have seen previously under one single national government. I understand that any successive government will be held responsible for any loans that the previous government had taken. However, this time round, this is quite different. A local government entity is quite different from the devolved government system because no one had to vote for the local authorities to be established. They were established without consulting people and, therefore, Kenyans do not feel obliged that any loans or money given to the local authorities that was misused by those who were running the authorities should be paid by the devolved governments. We will not be doing justice to this new system of government. I subscribe to those who feel that these loans should be taken over by the Government in one way or the other. That is why Sen. Murungi has told us about Kenya Airways, among other entities. We also know that individual loans given to farmers by the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) were written off. Some people took loans under the Guaranteed Minimum Returns (GMR) and could not pay back. These loans were written off. These are quite different. They are not loans given to an individual. They are loans which were given to local authorities which were there before. Therefore, if anything went wrong in administering the funds, then the mistake lies with the Central Government which had all the powers to ensure that nothing went wrong in dispensing the funds. We all come from areas where there were county councils. There is nothing tangible that shows what local authorities did with the funds that they were given, 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."
}