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{
    "id": 603409,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/603409/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 40,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Kanyua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 981,
        "legal_name": "Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua",
        "slug": "priscilla-nyokabi-kanyua"
    },
    "content": "access the county budget, a document that should ideally be available to the public. I fear for the counties. I am a county Member of Parliament. We also have the Governor and the Senator. I therefore, use creative methods to get the budget. I wonder what is happening to the citizens if I have to use creative methods to get a copy of the county budget! So, documents such as the county budget, expenditure, development plans, programmes and achievements should be available to the citizens in the counties. We had two main reasons of setting up county governments. One was service delivery, and two developments. For both of these to happen, access to information is critical. We are not going to succeed in devolution without information. There are some provisions in the County Governments Act, but until we have a law obligating release of information by Government officers, we will not make as much progress as we want to in the devolved governments. We also spoke about anti-corruption. The use of resources is very critical for us to have information. We are a developing country with taxpayers and a tax base as the main source of our revenue. We have to make good use of the scarce resources that we have. This means that we should make choices and options. I want to support the move by the CS to start putting in place austerity measures in our country. We cannot continue to live large when we have very critical elements or areas to finance like health, education, roads and transport. For us to make best use of resources, access to information is critical. Access to information helps in running away from white elephants. We are in a country where we have many half finished projects like hospitals, schools, roads and markets, and I wonder how a half finished market or road helps anybody. These half finished projects end up consuming money and not being of benefit to anybody. History in this country is replete with stalled projects which money has been sunk in. For us to use our resources well, economically and optimally, we need access to information. We have many programmes targeting poverty and marginalisation. Many of those programmes do not work well because the poor do not know about them, and cash transfer comes quickly to mind. We have a Kshs19 billion budget for cash transfers. Everywhere we go, you will hardly find people who are not complaining about the cash transfer money. Either they did not get the money or they did not access it or did not know or have information when selection was being done. Most programmes that we have on fighting poverty need to be accompanied by information. The bursary, health and agriculture programmes on seeds and fertilisers need to be accompanied with information. Affirmative action groups and programmes like the 30 per cent preferential procurement should also go with a lot of information. This particular promise is a great presidential directive that 30 per cent of contracts and tenders of the Government be given to young people, women and persons with disabilities. However, this programme is not working well, because we do not have sufficient information going to the target groups on the 30 per cent preferential procurement. We also do not have sufficient information to ensure that those competing in the 30 per cent procurement programmes are the ones intended. The same applies to programmes like Uwezo Fund. A lot of information needed to go with it so that young women and people with disabilities benefit from it. The other benefit of this law will be international standing. Kenya is a regional powerhouse, way ahead of many other African countries. However, our competitive edge and advantage is not very sharp as a modern democracy would require. We need a legal framework that confirms our powerhouse status. We need a modern legal framework that includes laws on access to information. Many countries in Africa that we compete with, including South Africa, have this law. South Africa in particular, coming from the days of apartheid, the Africa National The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}