Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 472557,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/472557/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 229,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "because it is “marginal”. That is why today if you draw an imaginary line on the map of Kenya from north of Lamu above Tana River to Meru Town, you leave Isiolo on the other side, all the way to Mt. Elgon, southwards of that imaginary line, the size of our country is a quarter of what is left beyond that line. The railway line, all the best roads, best infrastructure like water and power is concentrated below that line. When you reach Isiolo, you will think you are in another country. Then you are imagining somehow you will have a prosperous and united country. You cannot. Devolution came in to correct that so that today the people of Turkana can receive their fair share of development projects and they sit down and decide what they want, be it water, electricity or roads. Madam Temporary Speaker, devolution is the last card which this country is left with to save ourselves from self-destruction arising out of inequity and marginalization of certain segments of our country. What devolution has done is to destroy the arrangement that existed whereby a few elites and chief public servants sitting in Nairobi assisted by a small group of the political elite who are in power would decide where water will be given, where electricity will go and sometimes to the district where the Minister comes from and so on. This is perfectly illegal. Devolution is supposed to correct that but what are we seeing in the counties? Counties are getting these resources and instead of now correcting the injustices caused over the years like building roads, water dams, providing electricity, they are now benchmarking. They go to Italy to see how spaghetti is grown. I saw something like that on the internet. These days, the most travelled person is not even the Senator or the Member of the National Assembly but the MCA. You meet them and they will ask you whether you have seen the new building in Abu Dhabi near some tower. Some of them ask us whether we have been to Philippines, Venezuela or Caracas. I want to tell them to stop squandering the Kenyan dream. We need an embargo. This Bill is saying that every year, counties must use 60 per cent of whatever they receive to do development. If they cannot pay their staff or cannot travel, we shall deal with that but 60 per cent must go to achieve the functions of county governments. I have said this and I want to repeat it; money for devolution is aimed at achieving the functions spelt out in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution. Those functions include, crop husbandry, animal husbandry, county roads, county health facilities and so on. That money is not for travelling because travelling, training and capacity building is not a function of county governments. Madam Temporary Speaker, if there is anything we can do to save this country from self inflicted strife, disillusionment and despair, it is to make sure that this Bill passes and it is implemented. Sixty per cent of the resources to counties must go to development; that includes county executive and county assembly branches of government. Why should a county send 87 MCAs in one aircraft to study devolution in South Africa? First of all, it is a huge, huge risk; it should not even happen! God forbid, but supposing that aircraft disappears like Flight MH370, what happens to that county? Number two, can you not just send two people to look at devolution and come and help others? It is a shame! It is a shame! It is a shame! 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."
}