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{
    "id": 651406,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/651406/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 347,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "This is one of those Bills that Sen. Murkomen was approached by several deputy governors to prioritize. The forum of the deputy county speakers raised the same issue with him. It is important for us to note that if the counties have an issue or a challenge in the management and running of counties, this Senate and specifically each and every Member of this House will always be ready to hear them out and project the issues that they are raising and reduce them into a Bill so that we can help our counties. The role and mandate of this House is to protect devolution. This House will always be willing to undertake any legislative proposal whether it comes from this House, individually or from suggestions from Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) or county executive. I congratulate Sen. Murkomen for taking up that challenge and bringing the legislative proposal on behalf of the deputy governors and the county deputy speakers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the essence of devolution was to take power closer to wananchi to ensure effective management of public affairs at the county level. However, what we have seen in the last three years is depressing. We have deputy governors who were nominated by these governors through different methods. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in other counties, deputy governors have to sit with the Council of Governors and county leadership forum to agree on the sharing of the positions. There are counties that are cosmopolitan and in an attempt to have cohesive counties, some of the positions were shared among the regions and constituencies. The positions of the governor, deputy governor, Senate and that of the women representative were shared depending on the regions. We appreciate that in many of our counties, negotiated democracy carried the day to ensure that there is an all inclusive county government. However, immediately after the elections we saw a tendency by some leaders, especially the governors who represented some of the cosmopolitan constituencies emasculating the deputing governors by taking all the powers and leaving every other leader with no responsibility. This is dangerous because in the next elections there is likelihood of a situation where every community in the county will be running for the position of governor. This will create huge competition that after the results are declared, it may create a divided country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we need to ensure that there is balance of power so that every elected leader plays their respective role. If the governor nominates the deputy governor, such a leader must be prepared to walk through the five years. The governors should ensure that their deputies contribute meaningfully. Some of the deputy governors are more learned and experienced than the governors. Therefore, by marginalizing some of them in the affairs of the counties, the county government is disadvantaged. The electorate will be sidelined because they are interested in benefiting from the experience and expertise of their deputy governors. The Bill has attempted to bring deputy governors into the mainstream running of the county affairs so that every elected leader at the county has an opportunity to contribute to the running and betterment of our counties. Again even with regard to the position of the deputy Speaker, if you look at the County Governments Act, we know that it is not possible that the Speaker of any county assembly will always be available. 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"
}