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{
    "id": 474044,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/474044/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "If everyone has a bursary fund, it would be challenging to know the beneficiaries. This situation might lead to wastage of funds instead of focusing on development. Madam Temporary Speaker, the other thing is that this House was to deliberate on the roads for the counties. I know it is a subject that is also very sensitive, yet we are saying that development is infrastructure and all that. Therefore, we now need to get the exact class for county roads so that we can tell the Governors: “This is the class of roads you are supposed to venture in” so that we also do not have conflicts that we have had between the national Government and the county governments. We need to ask ourselves whether, indeed, the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) will continue the way it is and since we have agreed in this House that it is still a national function, how do we ensure that areas which have not been connected by the REA are connected? Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, in the end, we need the Governors to start costing their functions and all that they are doing. I think one of the challenges that we have faced in this country for years is that we have not seen specific costing of items. I think that is where now we get into a lot of confusion when you ask: “How much do you spend on Early Childhood Development (ECD) education?” No Governor will tell you how much. When you ask: “How much are you even spending on salaries?” No Governor will tell you. Therefore, we hope that next year, we shall see the costing of items from every county on how they have been paying so that you can say: “We paid this much on recurrent expenditure” and, therefore, you have this much for development. Lastly, Madam Temporary Speaker, as I support, I think it is very important now for the Governors to stop the blame game; for them to get down to work; for them to understand that Kenyans passed this Constitution with one main issue; that they wanted delivery of service. It will be very important for us to look at what is really ailing us; is it the way we do our tendering system? Is it the way people have manipulated the process; that in every tender indeed, somebody just changes a company name but it is the same face and the same person? I think it is time we named some of these things because in every county you go, you will find the same person who is at the national Government is still at the county level also receiving the same, same favours and doing the same thing because he knows very well that we give money for us to get tenders. It is there within the public domain; everyone will tell you, and that is why young people and women cannot venture into this business as they think because it has cartels, brokers, agencies and all these need to be addressed, especially at the county level. But we also need to look at the Public Procurement and Disposal Act and see whether we can assist in unlocking some of the funds so that not everything goes through a tedious process. We need to see if the counties can move their things faster in order to be effective in terms of what they are doing. They must digitize all their solutions. Madam Temporary Speaker, today when you ask all the counties “how much have you collected as local revenue?” None will tell you because all of them have gone down to even beyond what they used to collect when the local governments were there. So, we are asking ourselves; if the national Government does not give county governments 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."
}