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{
    "id": 631945,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/631945/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 345,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "There are certain cases where it is extremely unfortunate that the directors of medical services, the CEC members responsible for health and medical services in the counties are sometimes fairly junior medical professionals who are appointed to those positions simply because they provided some value to the governors during campaigns. You will find that they are the ones who are given responsibility to manage very renowned, highly experienced and trained doctors in our public hospitals. It is no wonder sometimes you find that instructions at the county level are not flowing very seamlessly because of those issues of command structure. Madam Temporary Speaker, as we talk about moving staff from the KNLS employment to the counties, we might need to pause and ask ourselves whether that is the best thing. Personally, I would have preferred a transitional arrangement where even if the county took over a library, there would be a progressive transfer of staff. The KNLS would still handle the employees because they are professionals up to a point when the counties are mandated and get funds to take over those employees. I also note that the Bill needs to talk about libraries and librarianship; this is not just about books. Libraries and information centres have become extremely digitized. This Bill attempts to promote the use of appropriate technology at the county level. As we talk about transfer of libraries from the national to the county Government, we must also ensure that if there are electronic subscriptions that the KNLS has undertaken, then that service and that value should also correspondingly be transferred to the county level. It should not remain at the national level. Madam Temporary Speaker, as I wind up my submission, I would like to talk about the issue of public participation in a Bill as important as this. Last year, I addressed the annual gathering of the KNLS Association. It turned out that they felt they have not been properly consulted in the drafting of this Bill. At the same time, I also discovered that the KNLS had come up with some recommendations to the Act that governs them which were legislative proposals to align their Act to the new Constitution. Those proposals have been sitting in Cabinet and they have not found their way to Parliament so that they can be legislated upon. We must review the framework for public participation and influence of some of the very important Bills that we bring up in this House. I say that because the Association that brings together librarians, the Kenya Library Professionals Association, communicated to me that they have not had an opportunity to make any contribution to this Bill which is at the Second Reading. Therefore, we assume that public participation happened. The KNLS felt that they have not made a contribution. I know that we put up a notice and invited stakeholders to come and present memoranda and their views on this. However, we need to look at the effectiveness of the things that we do. Is it enough to put up a notice in the newspapers and then deal with whoever comes and forget about whoever does not come out? Could we attempt to map stakeholders and make sure that even if they do not respond to the newspaper advertisement, we reach out to them so that when we pass some of these pieces of legislation, we will not have someone doing a postmortem review to say that the Senate, as an important institution as it is, came up with substandard and shoddy Bill. This is an issue that does not just apply to this Bill alone but to many other Bills. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}