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{
    "id": 768606,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/768606/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 91,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "tourism going on. We share the lake with Busia County, they can also plant rice. There are a lot of natural resources that the county governments should enhance or develop for us not to fully rely on the national Government. There is also the delay of disbursement from the National Treasury. If they over delay disbursing the money to the county governments, they may not work even if they are efficient. It is important that the national Government disburses money to the counties at the right time within the legal time frames. It is supposed to be three to four times in a year but it is sometimes disbursed late just like last year. I think the last disbursement was done at the end of that year. That way, you cannot be evaluated on whether you are performing or not. The prudent way of managing our counties is very important. We need to be efficient on how we run our counties. If we fail to do that, I do not think that we will achieve the reasons we came up with devolution. That has already been mentioned but we cannot tire of saying it because the current total pending bills nationally stand at Kshs35.8 billion. Since I have not worked in the Government before, I do not even understand how I can budget for something that I do not have or give out tenders to the extent of what the counties cannot afford. If we have pending bills totalling to Kshs 35.8 billion, it means that something is not right. Therefore, those are the things that we should correct as the watchdogs of the counties and the people. For us to achieve proper development, our approach has to be “bottom-up”, where we start development at the grassroots. For example, the situation in my county is unfortunate and I will never tire of saying it. There is no way a county that is fed by other counties will take off in terms of development because most of our resources or the meagre resources that people get go towards food consumption. By consuming food from other counties, it means that you are building them to the detriment of your own county. It is very important that we take development and efficiency to the grassroots and curb some of these things before they get out of hand. Lastly, there is a lot of general inefficiency in our counties. Most of the people who are employed at the county level - I may not be very right – are inefficient, whether or not it is deliberate. When the governors employ whoever they want, they should look at efficiency. There should be a track record that speaks for itself. I do not think it is very difficult to run a county. Come next time or even next year, there will be a glaring difference in the counties that are now run by women. We will be giving examples of counties run by women. I am not saying that men cannot run them, but women can do so better because we are even better managers of money wherever we are. Even in my own house I am a better manager of resources. Therefore, more women should be voted in next time. It is important that the Senators use the opportunity that we have been given by the people of Kenya to make sure that our counties are run very efficiently. We should guard our money and make sure that the natural resources that we have are developed for the betterment of our own counties. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}