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{
    "id": 777890,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/777890/?format=api",
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    "content": "other Act during that time where we had districts and provinces but we needed to anchor it clearly. We have heard Sen. Kang’ata speak. Maybe it is only now that he has clearly understood the boundaries of his county. Probably other governors and Senators have not. I know at the beginning of the session, governors went round in helicopters and I think they were just shown arbitrarily where county boundaries lie. I am amazed about this Bill according to the First Schedule because it clearly states where county boundaries are. We will introduce fighting in counties if we are not careful. The first phase of devolution was to understand what counties are all about. In the second phase of devolution which we are in, Kenyans have understood the wealth and the capacity of their counties. Therefore, if they find something happening in another county very close to theirs, they will claim that it is their county. Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. mentioned about natural resources benefit sharing. When a Bill was discussed in this House, I remember the Senator for Murang’a at that time indicated that water originates from Murang’a County but is used in Nairobi County. Who should own the revenue from that resource? That becomes a tricky question. Kenyans have also become innovative in many ways. In the first phase, they would sit back and watch. It is a question of perception from one angle. For example, what is happening in Kitui and Kiambu counties with regard to protecting the environment. There is a map that has been going round on WhatsApp which shows Kenya as a desert and portrays Uganda and Tanzania having trees. People will begin protecting their counties. There is no way one county will be happy for their trees to be cut. We can have a problem when a county stops people from doing something. That is the response I have heard. We need to keep the national psyche but at the same time understand what counties are doing. It will be impossible to do this if features of boundaries are not addressed. Therefore, this Bill is critical and it should be bi-partisan. Issues of reducing counties should not be discussed in this Bill because it is not stated anywhere. In addition, issues that can divide this House should not come in at all because if anybody listens to us in Kenya, they will laugh their heads off. They will say that the Senate is still trying to understand its mandate and Members are wondering whether they should talk about eliminating counties or not. This is a Bill that should have been brought to this House yesterday. This Bill has a lot of clarity. Clause 4 provides that the Cabinet Secretary should keep the record both in electronic and manual forms and that is important. In many matters we expect credibility from people. I also like what Clause 3 seeks to address. If there is any unlawful change of the county boundary, there is a heavy fine of Kshs2 million or five years imprisonment, or both. It should just be imprisonment immediately. We should forget about the fine because a cabinet secretary can afford Kshs2 million. We should change that Clause during amendments because that is the basis of how people will lose their lives. When people begin to fight across boundaries, that forms a basis of a problem. We can think of making the fine heavier because there is also the 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."
}