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{
    "id": 470355,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470355/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 84,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "devolution. As the Senator for Meru, it was my duty to visit the Meru County last week to see how the Governor and the County Assembly are settling down. I was shocked by what I saw. The Governor is sitting in the office of the former Mayor of Meru and it is still written at the door; “the Mayor of Meru”. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the County Assembly is sitting in the Chamber of the Meru County Council and outside the Chamber is a board written on “ The County Council of Meru”. So apart from knowing who these characters are; that one is the Governor and the other one is the Speaker, they are sitting - in the minds of the people - as if it is the Mayor of Meru and the County Council of Meru which is sitting. Although, we passed the Constitution in 2010, not a single cent has been allocated to the County Government of Meru as we speak. The Governor is operating from his own house where he sleeps. It is about 30 kilometers from Meru Town because he has no residence in Meru Town. If you go to the District Commissioner’s office which is next, you are welcomed by Administration Police officers who salute as you get in. If you go to the Governor’s office, you just walk in as if you are walking into a private office. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are great fears that although the President could be committed to the implementation of devolution, the mandarins at Treasury are going to frustrate and strangle the devolution system in this country. You recall what happened between 1963 and 1966; there was a lot of talk about support to the regional assemblies and the regional governments but there was a lot of dependency as far as the administration was concerned. It was never decentralized and there was even no fiscal autonomy of the regional governments and that is why they died. It is our duty, as Senators, to take the President at his word and to ensure that resources move to the County Governments, not tomorrow but yesterday. It is our duty as Senators to make sure that the County Assemblies work to make sure that the resources that are moved from the centre to the counties are not embezzled at that local level and that they will indeed give services to our people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it could be very populist to come here and cause more tensions in this country like what my learned friend was trying to do, but it is our duty to make sure that there is peace and prosperity in this country and that, indeed, the counties need more than mere tax resources from the Government. The counties need much more than the levies that we are collecting if we are to sort out the issue of youth poverty and unemployment in this country. It is a challenge to us to make sure that our counties are centres of productivity. The county will not develop merely by getting handouts from the Central Government. It depends on what you and the Governor are going to do in your own county to make sure that your people work hard; to make sure that you create agricultural productivity and to make sure that you move more investments to the counties. That is the only way that our counties are going to develop and that is the only way we are going to resolve the issue of poverty and unemployment in this country. It is true that every county including Turkana County where you come from, Mr. Speaker, Sir, is endowed with enormous resources. Those who thought that Turkana County is the last, now it is going to be the first because of the oil reserves that have been found in that area. So this is not the time to continue complaining about the past. It is time for us to make a fresh start and make ourselves the first. 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."
}