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{
    "id": 782114,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/782114/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 288,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The dream of devolution came at a difficult time. Many Kenyans lost their lives and many others were injured while yearning for a better Kenya. The biggest promise that this nation has is through devolution. So, we must always support such Bills that will make the operations of county governments more efficient. From the outset, I support the County Governments (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.11 of 2017) because of many reasons, some of which I will share. I will share some thoughts because there are ways that the Senate Majority Leader who is the author can improve on this Bill with regard to specific areas that he needs to put on more emphasis. I will move on to Clause 3 of the Bill which amends Section 9 of the County Governments Act with regard to the election of a Deputy Speaker, that: “There shall be a Deputy Speaker for each County Assembly who shall be elected by the county assembly in accordance with the Standing Orders of the respective county assemblies.” While I have no problem per se with that provision, I wish to challenge us as a House, now we are in our inception period as the Twelfth Parliament; have we thought of standardizing the Standing Orders in our county assemblies? I know the practices in this House are borrowed from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Practice. Unfortunately, with regard to our county assemblies, we have given them the space and room to maneuver when reviewing their standings orders. To some extent, you will find that there is deviation from this Commonwealth Parliamentary Practice where our parliamentary system borrows heavily from. Therefore, when drafting such Bills, let us have clauses that encourage this practice and not to have every county assembly have their own Standing Orders. However, this is for the Mover of the Bill to consider and for us to see if there is a way to standardize the Standing Orders in our county assemblies. Madam Temporary Speaker, at Section 7 of this Bill, the drafter of this Bill has laid down important regulations and grounds for the removal of a county Speaker. If you can remember, there was a lot of politics that happened during the first sessions of county assemblies with the disappearance of a county assembly speaker and other bad things. It was a challenge for us as the Senate because there is nowhere else where county assemblies can run to. The county assemblies look up to the Senate to give them guidance and to provide rules and regulations for them to carry out their duties effectively. More importantly, the drafter laid the grounds upon which a speaker may be removed from office. This is important as they have set the rules of gross violation of the Constitution, incompetence, misconduct and many that have been listed there. This is well thought out and this begins to clean up the system. When members of county assemblies think about impeaching a county speaker, they would know that there are certain regulations. We are trying to protect State officers who are sometimes subject to manipulation by members, either in Parliament or county assemblies. For example, if the Members are not included in a trip, they can whip up emotions of their colleagues and get a Speaker of a county assembly out. That will be a thing of the past with the passage of this Bill because you will have to establish and give facts that support and warrant the removal of the county speaker. 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."
}