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{
    "id": 470443,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470443/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 172,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Professor is here. We need the national Government to really assist us arrest this situation of cattle rustling in our region. With very good policies from the national Government and now that we have devolved systems, we will work closely with my colleagues from the other side to address the issue. Our borders are also very porous. The Government should borrow the example of South Africa, so that we can have perimeter fences all over the country. As I speak now, the Kenya Government does not know how much land we own. This is an issue that I would like the President to address. But as a new President, I do not want to challenge him because this is a new order and he has just come into office. This is also a new political dispensation after 50 years of wasteful politics. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of devolution was addressed by my colleagues. When you gave us an opportunity to go down to the counties, I was astonished when I went to the Governor’s office. The Governor has an office and no national flag and security. When we went to open the Assembly, there was nothing which indicated that we were in that assembly. The Speaker of the Assembly did not even understand very well that as a Senator, I can have an opportunity even to address the assembly. I was not given an opportunity, but I excused them because they do not understand. These are issues that we need to address. The national Government needs to urgently release funds to those counties. The Transition Authority needs to work together with the Governors who have been elected. My Governor, for instance, gave a statement that he was going to work closely with the County Commissioner, when he knows very well that there is a court order regarding the issue of County Commissioners, although there is an Act which really has entrenched them. I thought that he was subservient to the County Commissioner. This is the Upper House which has been mandated by the Constitution of Kenya to defend the counties. We hope that the national Government will co-operate on this issue, so that our Governors do not feel that they are junior officers at the county level. Mr. Speaker, Sir, last but not least, there is the issue of electricity. The whole of Nyamira receives electricity once a week. The Kenya Power Company (KPC) talks about poles falling and so on. However, when I toured the county, I never saw any poles that had fallen. So, these are issues that we really need the national Government to engage in, so that our businessmen and women can really benefit. The KPC talks about lack of water and when there is too much water, they talk about other issues here and there. The national Government with the relevant Ministries and we, the Upper House, need to come up with mechanisms to address these issues. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}