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"content": "In my view, it is not something that should be left to one person. We should look at it wholesomely so that even if the views are picked once in five years, let us start by hearing what members have to say and let it not be left to one person. These are the aspirations that we are talking about in a county. Let us give the opportunity to members to contribute. If in a way, by having a ward forum, we may get parochial and, perhaps, defeat the good intentions that we may have, then let us look for a way around it so that whether it is the leadership in there, let us not leave it to one person. I know that the urge would be there if you are a governor to decide on your own and for everyone else to step aside. However, in my view, it is a good idea to involve the “leadership” in that county. Let us define the word “leadership” and go ahead with it. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I said earlier, there was the issue of the Senator chairing the committee at the county level. I do not insist that we must have the Senator as such. The only thing is that under the circumstances, when drafting the Bill, the most neutral person according to me, who does not have money to spend and, therefore, not compromised is the Senator. Let us discuss this and I propose that a sitting be done with the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget because that is where it belongs. Let them look at some of these suggestions again and come up with amendments which will help in achieving the intentions of the Bill without doing away with the good that we have in the Bill. The Bill proposes that there may be some financial implication. Because I did not want to come up with a money Bill per se, I did not include the one, five or any other percentage. What I said is that at their discretion, the Executive through the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Finance should allocate some money. It is not a forced allocation. Therefore, it should not be a money Bill according to me. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, more importantly, at the moment, unless we squander it, the country has very goodwill from around the world from various development partners, including donors. Therefore, we can achieve what we are talking about here without having to set aside the 1 per cent. When I drafted the Bill, I gave sample copies to a few Members of the Senate and the National Assembly. Quite a number of the Members of National Assembly said that when it comes to them, the section dealing with the source of the fund, they would move that 1 per cent. I can, therefore, confirm to Sen. M. Kajwang that I have been consulting with the National Assembly. They are the ones who came up with that amount. It is a good idea, but we cannot do it here because the law does not allow that. Last but not least is on the annual industrial conference. I agree that it may be done in good faith, but what I had in mind was that I would like to have an industrial index for counties. The same way I would like the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) - When they say Kshs50 billion GDP, they should tell us how much Nyandarua, Kwale and other counties have. We would also like to know once industrialization has set in our country, every two or five years, we should check to see which county is doing what. The conference should be made for that and not an approval process. I will revisit the wording so that it does not become a handicap in itself. My intention was - and it is important for Members to look into it - that when you do not have competition, for instance, if you think that you are a very good runner, but you are not competing with anyone, you will always be number one. However, when there is a conference where notes are compared and counties compete with one another, it is a good idea in my view. 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."
}