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    "id": 773147,
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    "content": "interfered with our own work of reporting to the House. Therefore, they have a lot of work to do Madam Temporary Speaker, you will agree with me that it is not possible to audit the public accounts of 47 county governments by a committee of nine Members. Therefore, I recommend 13 Members so that at some stage, they can be divided into sub- committees of four Members and carry out the audit simultaneously and finish the work that needs to be done. In the last Session, they were increased and I do not understand why now when work is needed, they should be reduced to nine. So, I would urge the Procedure and Rules Committee to look into that number particularly in the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee. Secondly, there is a request that I made during the last term for another Committee. The National Assembly has a Committee on East African Community and Regional Integration which we do not have here. Here at the Senate, this mandate is carried out by the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations. As you know, National Security and Foreign Relations is a tall order. In fact, most of the questions that come to this House relate to national security. So, this committee is inundated with a lot of work to the extent where the work of the East African Community and Regional Integration is forgotten. I know many Bills are passed by the East African Legislative Assembly which touch on the mandate of county governments. Sometimes these Bills come to the National Assembly and they are passed or approved without reference to the Senate. Madam Temporary Speaker, therefore, I would urge this Committee when it embarks on its work to consider seriously having a Committee on East African Community and Regional Integration. After all, we are in East Africa and it is the intention of the East African Cooperation to move towards political federation and therefore the activities of the Community should engage us much more and hence the need to develop expertise within the Senate purely on those issues. I am a Senator of a border county, and I know, Madam Temporary Speaker, you border Uganda and my friend there also borders Somalia. Therefore, regional integration in East Africa is important and we need to attach much more focus on it. I am glad that when President Uhuru Kenyatta formed his Cabinet, he created a special Ministry to focus on East African Community Regional Integration because, before that, East African Community matters were being dealt with by the Ministry of Labour, Trade and East Africa. However, if President Uhuru Kenyatta has seen it fit that this requires focus, we, as the Senate, should also see it fit to form a committee to deal specifically with these issues of the East African Community. Therefore, as I endorse this membership of people with great experience, I would urge them to look at those two issues together with the issues raised by Sen. Olekina. Thank you."
}