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{
    "id": 583933,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/583933/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 292,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "that some of the members within the national Government feel that the best way would have been to devolve the national Government Printer to various counties. However, this needs to be understood. When the County Governments Act talks about county gazette and the Kenya Gazette, it cannot be imagined that they meant a county gazette published by a national entity. That does not make sense. It can only be a gazette published by the authority of an entity within the county government. Therefore, that is an important issue to note. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, sharing of and access to information is important within our counties. If we do not provide a legal framework for the existence or establishment of this kind of offices within counties, members of the public may not get a lot of information that they need. This is the only opportunity available. I want to point out one of the issues raised by the Committee. This is that the office of the county printer needs to be an independent entity within the county. As the provision is right now – this will be subject to amendment during the Third Reading – we want to create an autonomous institution or office within counties. If that happens, it will not be under the whims of the county executive or the county assembly. The office has to be independent and a resource available, both to the county executive and county assembly so that we do not have situation that we have currently witnessed. The law provides for the speaker and the clerk of the county assembly to forward a document to the national Government Printer in Nairobi for publication. A county governor or county executive cannot write a letter to the same county printer opposing publication of documents or budgets. The autonomy has to be addressed and safeguarded. I therefore, thank the Committee that processed this Bill and the proposed amendments they will bring to ensure that we better it. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are several other Bills that we have passed in this House. I will make references to the County Hall of Fame Bill (Senate Bill No.33 of 2014) – my Bill – that was discussed, debated and passed through the Second Reading in this House. If we want to have a county hall of fame and identify individuals that merit inauguration into it, we will need to publicize the names. The office of the county printer will give us the opportunity to address a number of issues within our counties. Therefore, I urge Senators in this House to look at this Bill. We definitely also need to look at sealing any loopholes available for misuse by the county executive or any other individual within counties so that tomorrow, we do not have a situation whereby a Bill that is obviously unconstitutional is passed by the county assembly, published in the county gazette and people implementing Bills that are completely unconstitutional. That is why we already have a Bill which has been sponsored by our Committee through Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. The office of the county attorney should work closely with the county printer to ensure that issues of constitutionality in Bills that will be passed and processed within our county assemblies are looked into. This will ensure that we completely have legal processes going on. Bills that are constitutional and fit within the framework will ensure that there is smooth and effective running of our counties. With those remarks, I beg to move and ask Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. to second the Bill."
}