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{
    "id": 476711,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/476711/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 432,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the next thing I would say is that what we are seeing in level 5 hospitals and in the health sector as a whole is a clear sign of how we are handling devolution. The main problem is that we have not followed the structures and the laws that we put in place for transition. Everybody here has been saying that they do not have the capacity, we should have looked at the capacity, they do not have the staff and we should have looked at the staff. I appeal to Members to take that to the Transition to Devolved Government Act. That is exactly what the Act indicated; work out the capacity; work out the staff that is required and work out the assets that they have. We did not do that and I am happy that yesterday we saved the Transition Authority (TA). We have not even done the functions that the county governments are doing. My Chair will agree with me that in the first budget we did, that is the question that we asked and I know we used the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) criteria. We used information from the Budget but we did not use the costed functions. So, up to today in the second year, we are still using almost a guessed figure and we all know in the Budget and Appropriations Committee that we actually brought it up by a percentage when we should have had a costed function. We did not have it. So, we must now let the Transition Authority work. I do not believe that the Inter-Government Relations Council can do the work that was intended for the Transition Authority. It cannot even constitutionally and, therefore, once again I want to call upon the Council of Governors and the Ministry of Devolution and Planning to let the Transition Authority do its work. If we are not happy with the staff running it, we should not kill a whole institution because of the staff. We can change that but we do not threaten to kill it before its time in the Constitution. So, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is just that we are seeing this in health but I think this problem is there in all areas because we have not--- I want to use an analogy here. If you live in a town and you are working there, practising there and you have a business and you want to move with your family, all your assets and everything to another town, how long will it take you? I have just worked it and it will probably take you a year or two. How do you expect that a whole system that was working for over 40 years can be done instantly? That is where the problem is and we are devolving badly and giving devolution a bad name. It will be a question of giving a dog a bad name and hanging it. Those of us who are supporting devolution to the hilt, all we want is to go back, follow the law and be patient. Things will work out. It is not too late. That is what we need. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, finally, my colleagues in the Budget and Appropriations Committee have even indicated that the process we are following with the county governments’ budget may be illegal, of reporting to the Director of Budget and so on. Leaving the illegalities alone, I just see that the process had its own problem. By the time we are getting the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) which guides us to the Division of Revenue Bill, we should get an indication of what the national Government needs. We have no indication whatsoever at that point of what the county governments need. So, we are going by the CRA criteria. My view is, and I have said it before, this is the time we The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}