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{
    "id": 650801,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/650801/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to join the Senators of the great counties of Siaya and Vihiga in welcoming the MCAs from the two great counties. As I have said before, your office is doing a great job by providing the framework within which we can exchange ideas with county governments and they can come here for bench-marking. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was with you today when the Ministry of Devolution and Planning was launching the framework for public participation and civic education. I agree with your comments that the best way to ensure that devolution moves forward is to ensure that all actors are involved through participation. There is no better institution to do that than county assemblies. They are the owners of budgeting and allocation of resources at the local level. Allow me to remind our colleagues from the county assembly here, that phenomenon that we see in counties where county government funded projects have a billboard or a tag of an individual must come to an end. That is not what devolution was all about. Devolution was about various actors playing a role that leads to the success of our people, but you find that the whole work done by the county assembly in budgeting for projects in the county and ensuring that resources are allocated is reduced to one individual in the person of a governor, putting a billboard and a tag everywhere. This behavior must change because it is replicated by our colleagues in the lower House where projects funded by Constituency Development Fund (CDF) are tagged and attributed to an individual Member of the National Assembly. That kind of behavior must come to an end. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the resources we budget for and send to the counties; there is a role that is played by the taxpayer who gave that money, a role played by the Senator dealing with matters of Division of Revenue and Allocation of Resources, a role played by the county assembly and a role played by the county executive. We cannot reduce that to be a one man show. It must be that we have a collective responsibility as leaders to ensure that with humility, we serve our people. Lastly, is to remind our colleagues in the county assembly, as Sen. M. Kajwang said that we are going to elections. You have said and I agree with you that we must hold the country together and use our institutions of governance to serve the people. We must ensure that those institutions grow. We do not want anyone stifling the county assemblies, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Judiciary, the County Executive or the Senate. All these institutions must be allowed to grow and do their job. When they pass through Kisumu as they go to Siaya, they tell Kisumu leaders that when we talk about reforming IEBC, it has nothing to do with IEBC staff in Kisumu. 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"
}