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{
    "id": 730466,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/730466/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 116,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "In fact, statistics show that many of the counties, except two or so, have not yet had their revenues higher than what was there previously. For that, there should be a challenge to the counties that they must disclose the revenues they make. They are county governments that raise a lot of money which should be used for development within the counties. Most of the monies the counties get, unfortunately go to pay employees. The counties are bloated with employees, most of whom have duplicated roles; some of them even perform the roles of chiefs, others do not know exactly what they do, but they earn a salary at the end of every month, instead of the monies being put together for development. Development has been very minimal in the counties. In fact, in most counties you will not see what the county governments have done. You can only see the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) projects. You then wonder what such counties have done for four years given that no roads have been constructed, no water projects have been implemented, sanitation is not properly handled and dispensaries have not been built. In fact, most of the existing facilities have been put in place by previous CDF committees. There are instances where some people went to court and stopped CDF committees from implementing certain projects but most CDF projects were completed. It is unfortunate that there is no method of checking how the money that is sent to counties is used. The Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) has no capacity. The EACC has not yet been strengthened. Apart from the fact that the EACC has not been strengthened, that Commission has been faced with very many allegations, including allegations of involvement in corruption by some of its commissioners. We have seen issues about compensation for land that has been acquired compulsorily by the Government being raised. We have even seen county governments purporting to do the work of the National Land Commission (NLC). Some county government officials re-allocate land or sell it through corrupt deals. When it comes to revenue collection and division of revenue, it is only fair that we go by what we had proposed. The amendments are not justified. There must be justification for the amendments that have been proposed. It is high time Kenyans began to think of ways of dealing with the expenses relating to the new Constitution, and more so devolution. Devolution is very good but we must restructure it to ensure that it benefits people at the grassroots level. That is not happening currently. The national Government and Members of Parliament have to, every now and then, intervene. Most of the time, we go and do some work which is ordinarily supposed to be done by county governments. I support the position of the Committee. The amendment should be retained so that we can move forward. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}