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{
    "id": 732181,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/732181/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 139,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Barua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1529,
        "legal_name": "Ejidius Njogu Barua",
        "slug": "ejidius-njogu-barua"
    },
    "content": "one is economic devolution. In terms of economic devolution, it has worked almost 100 per cent. That is because counties in every corner of this country are able to get direct money which they can use for the development of their own people. This has given access to services to the common mwananchi all the way to the lowest echelons of the society. When you come to political devolution, there is something that needs to be done. There is a problem in the 47 counties because in terms of politics and the way they manage themselves, some of them are trying to manage themselves as independent political entities. For the last one month, there has been a bitter exchange between the President and the Governor of Mombasa. That is because the Governor of Mombasa feels that he has enough autonomy to run his county without interference from the national Government. We need to fix this Constitution so that the county governments can have a direct link to the national Government. That is going to increase the level of accountability. The other issue which the President mentioned is about the heavy wage bill. In fact, the President indicated that senior State officers and public officers will be forced to sacrifice part of their money so that it can be used in community projects. As we cut salaries, we need to put into consideration the level of accountability. We may cut those salaries and still have that money being misappropriated and ending up in some people’s pockets. Both the county governments and the national Government need to increase the level of accountability so that the monies that are reduced from public servants, monies that are appropriated for development and those appropriated at county level, go to the intended purposes without corruption. I was happy to listen to the President when he confessed that Kenya requires a new start. Kenya requires a new start in which every Kenyan is captured in the economic web. Every Kenyan should be identified by the economy such that whoever is born and raised in Kenya should have a direct link to the economy so that we can reduce the level of poverty and have everybody living in dignity. The other thing I can say, because my time is coming to an end, is that the President was very emphatic on peaceful elections. The Presidential Address was by the President of the Republic of Kenya, and not the President of Jubilee party. The need to hold a peaceful election cannot be over-emphasized. We need to have peaceful and transparent elections, both at the party nominations and at the national level so that whoever loses does so with dignity and accepts to follow the winner. We need to do that so as to develop our Kenya. With those few remarks, I would like to congratulate the President for other things like the Uwezo Fund, electricity and water connections. The Jubilee Administration has done a good thing. I wish to stop there."
}