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{
    "id": 733129,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/733129/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kangara",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12543,
        "legal_name": "Benson Mutura Kangara",
        "slug": "benson-mutura-kangara"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me the opportunity to support this Bill. From the outset, I am surprised. I really wanted to raise a point of order so that you can rule Hon. Gikaria out of order. He is a Member of the Committee. When we were deliberating on this issue, he never raised those concerns that he is putting across right now. In most cases, he is usually an absent member. He did not understand the gist of the Committee finding. On the issue of devolution, it is well stipulated that after five years, we are supposed to audit the Constitution as a country. There are issues. Everybody has agreed that there are some fundamental issues that need to be looked into so that we can strengthen and streamline weaknesses in the Constitution. Failure to audit the Constitution has led to some of the emerging issues that have been occurring. The transition to two governments has been an issue. We very well remember that this House was impeded during the first time that we discussed the issue after we were sworn in. We raised some of the concerns that we are raising on how devolution ought to have worked. This House was branded as being anti-devolution. That is the time that problems started in this House because most Members shied away from some of those issues. There was the issue of the Transition Authority which was supposed to implement and ensure that there was a smooth transition from the national Government to the county government. It did its work but initially, it used to operate as an independent commission. But at the time it existed, it operated as a department in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. Those are the issues we are raising to show that if devolution has to work, there are fundamental issues that need to be looked into. For instance, how will the issue of inter-county conflict be resolved? It is nowhere in the Constitution. There are mechanisms that have been brought into place to sort it out. Do they work? Right now, we are discussing the issue of drought in this country. We have no emergency provision and disaster management. It is not anchored anywhere - not in the national Government or the county government. So that we can give weight to some of those issues, we were proposing that we need a Devolution Committee that can also interrogate those matters. With regard to the Budget, the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade usually advocates for the line Ministries, the KRA and those other entities to be funded. However, they forget that there is devolution. The issue of costing and unbundling of functions were major things that ought to have been done by the Transition Authority. It was not done. 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."
}