Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 774280,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774280/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 127,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "but there are counties where people have not jelled and do not speak a homogenous language. Many times there are battles within the administration and leadership of county governments, where certain quarters of the population feel that they are left out. When you set such ground rules from the onset, it becomes easy because one will only need to look at the results of the population census before determining what is a town or urban centre. If you meet the numbers that have been set out in this Bill, you will qualify to be a town or an urban centre. It is, therefore, a good thought not to leave it to the whims of politics or the determination of a county government. This is because there are certain counties that have unique challenges. It is also important and imperative that, as leaders, we learn from our past experiences of the kind of unique challenges and the mistakes that have been made by counties like Nairobi City County, for example. It is quite unfortunate that many county governments today still do not learn from the difficulties and challenges that are being faced by a city like Nairobi. You will find the same mistakes that were made being replicated by counties when setting up either cities or urban centres. A few years down the line, the very challenges that we thought we were solving by setting up county governments will find root within counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is important that the drafters of this piece of legislation tighten every nut, as we give our thoughts. They should ensure that at the end of this wonderful piece of legislation, we have a good guiding system. We should know what is incumbent on a county governor of a particular county, so that as they do the urban planning of every town and centre within their county, they follow certain parameters. There should be certain things that a county government cannot run away from. I have also seen a proposal in this piece of legislation - and this is something that must be lauded - to set minimum educational requirements on people that are being given various offices. I have seen different qualifications, the standard being that they have to be graduates from recognised institutions and have served a certain a number of years in either public or private institutions. This way, we will not end up with a situation like we had in the past where many of the people who were running our municipalities in the name of mayors were councilors. There was no academic qualification requirement for one to be elected a councillor. As a result even a Class Two drop-out could be elected as a mayor of a municipality and be in charge of a huge population. They may not have gotten a chance to get proper education, but there are certain levels that they should not rise to, for example, urban planning. This is a complex duty. World over, this is a problem that even the most developed democracies struggle with. I remember that in certain countries, like China, that have made mistakes in the desire to rapidly develop and catch up with the West, they have ended up clogging up their systems and affecting their environment. There is a province in China called Guiyang that they have developed to be their dream city. This is the city that the rest of the provinces are supposed to visit and borrow a leaf from on how to manage the environment, because that is their desire and dream. It is my sincere hope that upon the passing of this legislation, many of our county governments, and up to and including the national Governments, will be able as well to The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}