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{
    "id": 676711,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/676711/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bowen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2256,
        "legal_name": "David Kangongo Bowen",
        "slug": "david-kangongo-bowen"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I stand to support the Bill. This is long overdue given the Constitution which many Kenyans voted for, especially on the part of devolution. Going down to the county assemblies, it is important this Bill is in place. I have seen the purpose of the Bill is to standardise the procedures and processes of appointment of new officials by the county assemblies. It is also to provide light and guidance so that we have standard guidelines of appointments across the 47 counties. Apart from the appointments, we also want the Senate and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to extend a piece of legislation. That is so that we can have a standardised remuneration across the 47 counties. Different counties have their remuneration schemes. If you see the allowances the Member of County Assemblies (MCAs) in Nairobi get, they are different from those at the counties in western and Rift Valley regions. I am so happy that we have a piece of legislation to guide the county assemblies in employment. I would also suggest the Election Bill which is before this House to be fast-tracked so that we have specific qualifications for the MCAs and Parliament. You cannot have a member of a committee with lesser qualifications in the education standards and yet, he or she is going to vet a professor, PhD holder or people who are very qualified. It is good we also appreciate that the issues that we have had, especially between the county assemblies in this country and the governors, are based on that. We have seen certain counties requesting to be dissolved. Here is an example of a case where you have a governor who is a professor of law and a county assembly where you have people of Standard Two or Three. The reasoning gap is so wide that they cannot agree on some issues. These are the areas which should be controlled. There are some County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) or the so called ministers of the counties who are professors. You want the same county assembly people who are Standard Seven or Eight to vet such people? It is not going to work. We will not get the right people in the right positions. Going to the questionnaires or schedules attached to this Bill, the issues of experience are very important. My colleague Dr. Ombaka has talked about it. If we are employing the youth, we should know a majority of the unemployed people in the country are the youth. It becomes hard to meet this criterion of experience. These are people who have just graduated from university. Some of them graduated almost 10 years ago. They have been seeking jobs from one city to another. They may have been in Nairobi for five years. With the new constitutional dispensation, 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."
}