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"content": "adopted by the Committee of Experts. I have lifted it word for word, comma for comma and full stop for full stop. However, we have now provided a formula. That formula would be; how does a resident of, for example, Isiolo, Nakuru, Makueni, Taita Taveta or Kwale, where there are disputes - how do they come, where do they come from, and how do they approach it? But I have been a little selfish. Why do I say so? We passed a law here, which I strenuously objected to, on the limitation of constituencies and ward boundaries. This House has no jurisdiction to touch wards and constituencies whether it is by a report, discussion, adoption or recommendation. By one stroke of the pen, we removed our jurisdiction to determine electoral units for which we are Members of. This is the only avenue left for you Senators to defend your counties in Article 96 of the Constitution. This will ensure that a person who is aggrieved and has an issue about a boundary will have to follow the process that we have proposed here. With that background, allow me to just take my colleagues through a few of the clauses that they should note. In Clause 3, we have adopted the Constitution. In Clause 4, we have suggested that the Cabinet Secretary (CS) in charge will be the one to avail electronic updates. That is one of the most innovative things we have come up with. Members, if you look at Page 207 of the Bill, you will see that the county boundaries of, for example, Kericho County, have GPS bearings. Madam Temporary Speaker, this Bill provides, particularly, in Clause 4, that at some point, you will have an electronic map of your county, that is, the GPS code. This is because we want to move from the traditional way of doing physical beacon or if you do physical beacon, you should do it plus the electronic ones and the ones that we do out there in the villages by planting sisal. We do not want to do those things; they are archaic. The records are provided there. Clause 6 is now the avenue of which any Kenyan will proceed. We have again lifted Article 188 of the Constitution in Clause 6 in its entirety. The criteria are on Clause 6(2); the population density, physical and human infrastructure, historical and cultural ties, the cost of administration, the views of the communities affected, the objects of devolution and geographical features. This Bill does not attempt by any stretch to make it easy to change a boundary. The criteria will be very difficult. We must say so to ensure that any person will have to follow very stringent criteria in order to alter a boundary. Part III is about the resolution of county boundary disputes. Upon a request by a governor and recommendation of a Senator which shall be made to the Senate accompanied by evidence, a resolution shall be made and it shall go to the President and a mediation committee shall be appointed. I wanted to say that we did not assume that every boundary dispute will be cantankerous or there will be firefighting. We have assumed, under Clauses 8 and 9, that there will be mediation. We have provided for the mediation in Clauses 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13; the functions of that mediation committee. This will ensure that in an attempt to alter any boundary, the ultimate intention is to make sure that your neighbours in your county, for instance, in Uasin Gishu County, and others next to you do not quarrel. If you can actually reach an agreement like what we have been attempting to do with my colleague, Senator from Taita Taveta County, 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."
}