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{
    "id": 481400,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/481400/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 125,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kembi-Gitura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 242,
        "legal_name": "James Kembi Gitura",
        "slug": "kembi-gitura"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for the Communication that you have made from the Chair. As it is published today and tomorrow, the nation will understand better the truth about what is happening about the County Development Boards. Mr. Speaker, Sir, an example has been given about a board of directors and the one that we have formed. A simpler example closer home would be a board of management in a high school. The principal is the chief executive officer of a school, but the chairman with the board of management directs generally what is going to be done in that school. That is all we are asking. I wish the Governors had come to Mombasa when we had a seminar last week. If they had shared with us, they would have understood that we have no interest in the executive authority of a county, because we know that the Constitution gives that to the Governor. All that we want is to see that things are being done correctly in the counties. The Governors are going to come up with the issues of separation of powers and say that we are interfering with their executive authority. But that is all pretence, because, first of all, there is no clinical separation of powers that is going to keep a player, like a Senator of a county, from wanting to know and see how things are done in the county. That is why we want to disabuse the notion that Governors have; that Senators have no role to play in the events of a county and our work is to remain in Nairobi to make laws. But Article 96 is very clear. It is futile for anybody to think that we can be making laws and passing the Division of Revenue Bill and the County Allocation of Revenue Bill and then, allowing the counties to spend the money the way they want without any oversight from the Senators. I am a strong believer and proponent that our role as Senators is both collegial as a House of Senate and also individual in wanting to follow up and know what is going on in the counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was very amused to see one or two Governors saying that because of this, they are going to do a referendum for the abolishment of the Senate. This clearly tells me that they do not understand devolution and what their roles are. This is because without the Senate and county governments, there cannot be any devolution at all. I think that there needs to be civic education. People need to understand that all we want to do is to see that the correct thing is done. I want to reiterate what one Senator has said; that this actually goes to underline and help the Governors in the governance of counties. With these boards sitting, there will be very few cases of impeachments of Governors. This is because we shall all be there and deciding or advising generally what needs to be done. We shall be oversighting with the full knowledge of what is going to 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."
}