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{
    "id": 618696,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/618696/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would like to thank the Majority Leader, the Rules and Business Committee (RBC) and the Senate for approving my nomination to sit in the Energy Committee. When I came in, I was not quite sure what exactly was going on, only to be told that that was what the business of this afternoon was. I appreciate. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also say that I concur with what the Majority and the Deputy Minority Leaders said about the need for continuity. It is good to remind ourselves that this is the only one full calendar year we are going to serve in this Senate because in the next session, half way through next year, we will be going to elections. This is the year for us to consolidate the gains we have achieved as Senate and it is important that the Members who have been sitting in these various committees have an opportunity to consolidate the work they have been doing. If I may use by way of an example, having served in the last three years as the Chair of Devolved Government Committee, a position which I am not seeking going forward, we had gone through so many issues, we had planned for things that we needed to accomplish, there are counties we had visited, there was a structure of the things we wanted to audit in those counties and it helps when you have committee Members who understand what was going on, to continue that business from where we left and to ensure that we try to consolidate those gains. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that I know we have gone through various challenges as a House. This year, we also need to pull our socks in as far as monitoring the affairs of our counties is concerned. Soon, the Division of Revenue Bill and the Allocation of Revenue Bill will be brought to this House. One of the critical issues is to ask ourselves; having funded our counties to the tune of every county getting at least Kshs10 billion in the last three years, what gains have our people achieved? These committees, particularly the County Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Devolved Government have a critical role in overseeing inter- governmental relations and also ensuring that our resources are used prudently by the county governments. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is important for us now. In fact, my advice to the County Public Accounts Committee is that they must not be bogged down by mundane issues. They must look at the critical issues related to use of our funds. There are worries. Somebody stopped me the other day and said that if my county has not done what they ought to do for the last three years, what miracle will they do in this one year? I said, perhaps, miracles will happen. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}