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{
    "id": 571388,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/571388/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 276,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "July 16th, 2015 SENATE DEBATES 49 Sen. Okong’o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to also support this amendment and the Motion brought by Sen. (Eng.) Karue, also referred to as the father of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). He is fighting for those marginalized counties in terms of office space. On the amendment, the two Senators who have been brought on board are men of repute. They have the experience and expertise since they worked in the national Government which will be useful to this Committee. We have seen county governments and county commissioners differing more often than not in terms of space. That is an issue that we need this Select Committee to look into and come back to us with a very appropriate report on the action to be taken. This not only affects the county governments or the governors. The county assemblies also have their challenges. For instance, the County Assembly of Nyamira operated from rented premises for almost a year. As a result, a huge amount of taxpayers’ money was used to pay rent. They were operating from church premises. So, this Motion is timely. The Select Committee also needs to interrogate further the actions of the Transition Authority (TA) when they were undertaking some of the functions in the counties. Some of us are aware that the TA has been stifled by the national Government. In some cases, its mandate has been suffocated. Right now, the TA is surviving on donor funds. This issue is mindboggling. I do not understand how the Jubilee Government can stifle the TA which derived its mandate from the Constitution to operate and put counties in place. This is one among the many areas that I would like the Select Committee to look into. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I remember a few months ago the Governor for Kisumu had earmarked some building for his operations, but the County Commissioner went there and demolished the sign posts. I, therefore, support this Motion so that these issues can be looked into. Since our role as the Senate is to protect the counties and devolution, this Select Committee should work with the counties and bring an appropriate report, so that we can have a clear picture on some of these issues. We might not want to have a replica of all county assemblies or county governments. Some counties have diversities in terms of culture, which may influence the kind of structures to be put in place. Some follow their historical and cultural backgrounds of their regions. We do not want to create separate entities called county governments. We want to have counties which co-exist in diversity with the national Government. I concur with the sentiments of my brother, the Senator for Homa Bay, that the Select Committee must look after the taxpayers’ money. We toured Germany with the Liaison Committee a couple of months ago and visited assemblies under decentralized forms of government. Those assemblies have chairs which do not cost more than Kshs5,000. These are issues that the Select Committee should look into. As the people given the mandate by Kenyans, we should at all costs defend their interests and oversight the monies which have been given to them. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support. 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."
}