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{
    "id": 751095,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/751095/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1021,
    "type": "other",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I hope that as we talk about education reforms in the country, this Bill will play a pivotal role in shaping the reforms that the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Education, Science and Technology will introduce. This is because without having the ECD in place and even without clarity of what it entails, it would be pointless for us to think about education reforms and education for all. I also thank the Ministry and the President for making it clear that the Jubilee Government is out to provide free education from next year. When that is associated with my Committee, I feel that it is my Committee that has come up with it since we have always discussed free education for all and the scrapping the 8-4-4 system. I came up with that Motion in the 9th Parliament and I am happy that after a long time, people are coming back to say that this is what was discussed in Parliament. They must have seen something useful for them to want to make it a reality. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it will be pointless to talk of devolution without talking of oversight. The Senate is an important House that protects county governments and is supposed to oversight them as well. However, you will realise that the money that we spent in county governments is a lot. Earlier today, we passed Kshs302 billion to go to the county governments. Surprisingly, governors will just share it. They will sit and agree on what they will do but nobody will care to know how it will be done. We needed to have decided exactly how that money will be used. There should have been an oversight fund. A total of Kshs4 billion or Kshs6 billion per county in a financial year should not be spent, without anybody from this House scrutinising how it is done. In most cases, the money has gone to the drain. When we invite Governors here to tell us exactly what happened and they are grilled by the Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments, nothing happens thereafter because we never see the results of these financial matters from counties. As much as we thank the Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments for doing that, we have not had time to discuss any report from them. It is like it was just an exercise in futility. We should be a House that is capable of running issues; one that can mainstream county governments and give them directions. If there is a way that we can have a training and interaction sessions with governors as soon as they are elected so that they can get to know our limit and theirs as far as running counties is concerned, that should be taken as a very important exercise for running affairs of county governments. It is also important to note that most governors have belittled the role of this House. Some were summoned here, but did not come most of the time. Some of them came but instead of responding to queries, they just gave written submissions. Sometimes they just sent their deputies. That shows that there is a missing link between the Council of Governors (CoG) and the Senate. The Senate should be respected as a House that protects county governments. The Senate should be seen as the only House which can discipline governors, but it has not happened in the four and a half years that we have been here. We have not had the time to discipline anybody. It is like they now take the Senate for granted. This is something I hope will not happen in future. With time, the Senate will grow to be a powerful power House."
}