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{
    "id": 505324,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/505324/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 193,
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    "content": "county. Establishing a town, municipality or a city is not for the sake of getting benefits. You have to incur a cost to give services to the people of that area because of a larger population. So, you cannot force a city or an urban area for purposes of having a name. The city must have the challenges and characteristics of an urban city. Therefore, reducing our cities in Kenya to have 250,000 people and 70,000 people for a town or municipality and yet there is no conferment of any benefits that come with being a city is not necessary. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, some people are still living with the mentality that Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) will set up a unit in an area once it becomes a municipality. However, we all know here that there is no extra allocation to KURA that is not part of what goes to county governments. Therefore, we should not create unnecessary layers of government. That argument also raises the question of whether an urban area can charge a fee outside county governments. Whatever fees are being charged in Nakuru or Naivasha towns have been agreed by the county assemblies. So, you should not fear that you will create entities that will be levying fees on their own. Parking fees now or any other fees that will be levied by any town across the country must be something agreed by the Parliament of Kenya or the county assembly of a county. This creates autonomy again for that reason. There is the issue of giving the Governor power to confer status of a municipality to a town. One can wake up one morning and decide that since Nyandarua is operating from a shopping centre somewhere, the place of operation should be called a municipality so that we feel nice. If it does not meet the characteristics of a municipality, then it is wrong. If Iten does not meet the qualifications of a town, why should you fast track it to become a municipality? I am talking about Iten because it is in my county. This is a good example to give. Let us allow urban areas to grow. When they reach the stage of becoming towns, they will become towns. When they reach a point of being municipalities, let them be municipalities."
}