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{
    "id": 484087,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/484087/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 188,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is another very sad afternoon in the Republic of Kenya and the history of devolution. The reason is that we are again, the fourth time, presiding over an impeachment of a public officer in the person of a Deputy Governor of Machakos. The first one was the Governor of Embu, then we dealt with the Deputy Governor of Embu, then we moved all the way from Mt. Kenya region to the land of tea to deal with the impeachment of the Governor of Kericho, then we are now back to the other end, the dry areas of Machakos to preside over the impeachment of a Deputy Governor. Perhaps because it is Machakos and Ukambani area is a little bit dry that tortoises become the subject of this impeachment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, personally, as the Chair of the Committee on Devolution whose mandate is to foster good relationship between the county government, the national Government and also among institutions of governance in the county, presiding over about four impeachments in just about one year and a few months is a sad state of affairs. There must be something going wrong in terms of people obeying the law, in terms of looking at alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, looking for people trying to live by the law or living amongst themselves in good relations. As a Chair of the Committee on Devolution, I feel that we are drifting everyday from the aspirations of our Constitution in Article 174. It says that the objective of devolution was to have self-governance of people so that they can make decisions that are going to affect them and further their own development. The people of Machakos, the people of Embu, the people of Kericho and the people of this Republic of Kenya are looking for services and for those services to be delivered, the leadership in that county must focus more on fostering inter-leaders relations in terms of those leaders abiding by the law or them trying to work with everybody else to attract investment in the counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when this Motion was being moved, I said that I have a lot of sympathy on the position of the Deputy Governor and the reason is simple. The position of the Deputy Governor is very unique in the Constitution because apart from Article 179 saying that the Governor shall be the chief executive officer and the deputy shall be the deputy, when we come to the County Governments Act, particularly Section 33 where it is talking about the functions of the governor, nothing is said about the deputy governor. Nothing at all is allocated to the deputy governor. Today, we are presiding over the impeachment of a deputy governor and it is important for us to sit down and think through: What is the position of other deputy governors in this country? I have sat with them. The Embu one was chased to one kilometre away, given an isolated office where she could not do anything in that county. When she was brought to our Committee which was Chaired by Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and I was the Vice-Chair, they said that she is being punished for being co-superintendent. This term has not been debunked. I am saying this 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."
}