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{
    "id": 505292,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/505292/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "November 27, 2014 SENATE DEBATES 23 Sen. Billow",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Bill. The Bill as the Mover said amends several legislations as is expected of any statute law miscellaneous amendment. Regarding the Land Adjudication Act where the changes are to bring it in line with the Constitution, for example, changing things like trust land to community land which is the new terminology according to the Constitution, it is in order and I support it. On the second amendment relating to Urban Areas and Cities Act, I support these amendments which give the governor the mandate to confer status of municipality to county headquarters. All the county headquarters will enjoy a municipal or a city status so that they can have access to other levels of development. This is important because we need to have that level of uniformity so that some county headquarters are not left behind of their status. In that regard, the attempt being made in this Bill to reduce the population from what is in the existing Act, that is, the Urban and Cities Act is acceptable. I support it especially the issue of reducing the requirement from 500,000 people to 250,000 people and for urban areas from 250,000 people to 70,000 people. In the County Governments Act, we are also dealing with towns, urban areas and cities. There are different regulations relating to each of this category in terms of the way they are managed, the way revenue is collected, the way they raise their rates and so on. In this regard, I support the proposed reduction of the population. We have been told that big towns like Kisumu and Eldoret have not attained the status of a city. When you look at the operations of those towns, the requirements and the infrastructure, you will find that the Government, through the various Ministries like the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and so many others, also provide various investments in some of these areas based on their status. Therefore, this will allow some of the county headquarters to have access to funding, especially through the Road Development Levy which is available to cities. Therefore, it is important we reduce the population threshold so that all the 47 county headquarters are at the same level. We should have a systematic way of grading our cities. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I also support the proposal under the same Act that the cities and urban areas continue to use the existing laws in terms of imposing the rates and charges until county governments introduce their own through finance bills. Regarding the County Governments Act, I do not know what is relevant in the amendment. For example, there is one that says that in the first election, the number of wards in a county should be reduced from 15 to 10. I do not know the significance of that because it says that the minimum number of wards in a county should be reduced from 15 to 10. I do not think that situation will apply again. There is one which I have heard the Senate Majority Leader raise that concerns the amendment on page five of the Bill relating to the County Governments Act, on the creation of a consultative forum. I agree with what the Senate Majority Leader said that this amendment of creating a consultative forum for the coordination of development activities is exactly the same thing that we did in the County Development Boards (CDBs). In the CDBs, there is also a consultative forum for the coordination of development. The wording is the same. What the National Assembly is trying to do, with 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."
}