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{
    "id": 505351,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/505351/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
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    "content": "has already embarked on that Bill. In fact, only today, the Committee organized a public hearing. We had a long session at the KICC today, where we received views from members of the public on that particular Bill. Very useful comments, observations and recommendations were made at that hearing but we are still going ahead to make amendments, for example, turning trust lands into community land under these miscellaneous amendments. I do not know whether this is necessary because we could wait a little longer so that we have a substantive Bill coming back to this House from the relevant Committee, so that this matter will have gone through all the stages, including public hearings. We will have something substantive to talk about. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are now proposing amendments to the Urban Areas and Cities Act, to reduce the threshold in terms of the population. Why is this necessary? I do not think that this is necessary. It is not going to confer any special benefits to the counties by doing this. We should stick to the criteria which has been set and let our towns and cities achieve the set criteria before we can do anything about this. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, regarding the transition to the Devolved Governments Act, I do not know whether these proposals are necessary. In my view, really, there are no further functions to be passed down to the counties from the national Government. This is superfluous because it has been overtaken. I want to express some concern about the establishment of a consultative forum for the coordination of development activities. It is being proposed that heads of department and recognized professional bodies in the counties come together at that consultative forum to discuss issue of development at the county level. I see this as mischief because this House has already passed the County Development Boards Act and is meant to undermine what this Senate has already done. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is already a forum where professionals are going to meet with the county executive. They can meet as many times as possible. They do not need a law to facilitate their meeting. The county executive can invite any professional that they want and transact whatever business they want to transact. The proposed forum is only going to be elitist because the various sectors in the counties are not represented at all. There will be no representatives of the people in those fora. I do not know what we are trying to do through this amendment. I think this should be rejected. I also see through the Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Authority Act very far- reaching amendments being proposed. I do not know why all these must be done through the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Bill rather than a specific Bill that will deal with these kind of amendments. I feel that maybe we should allow the relevant Committee of this House to advise us on how to proceed. We should allow for more time and input from stakeholders, so that when we deal with some of these emotive issues like land, the general public has been given an opportunity to make their input. Thank you."
}