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{
    "id": 779915,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/779915/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 363,
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    "content": "to cool down tempers and bring about cohesion in the manner in which we deal with the inter-county disputes. Already, there is a dispute not in a closer county, but a distant county about the business movements. We have seen in the Press and are all witnesses to what is going on. I do not want to refer to that because it will take me to another debate, which I am not interested to enter into at this stage. We must find mechanisms of sorting out disputes among ourselves. We must find out mechanisms on how to relate in this Senate. It is important that when we are dealing with county matters, which are our primary responsibility, we should ensure the smooth governance structures of the counties. We should safeguard them from anything that is likely to disrupt their movements, revenue source and format of employing people. Therefore, I am in full support of this Bill. We will be quite happy to participate in whatever amendments that may come up during the Committee stage. But at the moment, the way I see it, at least it has given us a starting point. We should not continue the way we are with regard to boundaries. It is a big shame that we had not thought of this Bill earlier on; it has now come during the Twelfth Parliament. This should have been one of those enabling Bills, which should have become an Act of Parliament before we even started talking about the county governments. Therefore, by bringing this Bill to this House, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. has rescued us, so that we can put our House in order to manage the affairs of the counties. There are bound to be disputes arising between the counties; make no mistake about it. We are not cast in stone; there will be disputes. Therefore, we need to create a mechanism and channel through which these disputes can be resolved. I remember, for instance, even at the constituency level, there have been disputes arising out of constituencies that cut across borders. We had disputes between Nyaribari Masaba Constituency and Kilgoris Constituency, which is in Trans Mara. We had to appoint some wazees because at that time, we realised that we did not have a mechanism of dealing with this matter. So, we appointed a committee of five from my side and another committee of five from the other side. Together they sat down, agreed and, thereafter, called a huge baraza to address this matter. However, that agreement was not recorded anywhere as having been mutually agreed and accepted by both sides. But I can assure you that it brought us peace for the rest of the period. I walked from one end of the border to the other and it created awareness. Since that time, we have never had any dispute along that border. But this was a dispute that was resolved by elders from both sides of the divide of the constituency. We now have a bigger unit of county governments and we must now lay down the legal framework upon which we can resolve this matter and come clean so that we are not in any doubt on what we are dealing with. Regarding the population dynamics, I think it is a matter of the future. We should look at the new urban agenda that it is envisaged; that in order to stem rural-urban migration, we must create favourable urban centres within the various counties which will cut across the common boundaries of the counties. If they do so, how will we handle arbitration for the centres that come up? Once this Bill becomes an Act of Parliament, it will help us to delineate and settle disputes arising out of these comments. 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."
}