Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 789317,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/789317/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 276,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 3036,
        "legal_name": "Timothy Wanyonyi Wetangula",
        "slug": "timothy-wanyonyi-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me a chance to contribute to this amendment Bill. This Bill should have come much earlier because our county governments have been struggling with very minimal resources and could not perform properly. The erstwhile local governments had public private partnerships arrangements and they tapped into it and used it effectively. County governments can do better with this. One of the things that I have noticed in this Bill is the inclusion of Clause 3A, which exempts this arrangement from the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015. This is the right thing to do because when we engage in a partnership with other sectors, you do not subject them to bureaucratic arrangements which cause delay, create hurdles and make the process much slower. This exemption will give it an incentive so that those who want to engage with county governments or the national Government will do so without worries of going through many other stages. We have spoken extensively about public participation. This is a grey area that we need to address. I sit on the Committee on Delegated Legislation where we deal with regulations from the Government. Most of the time, one of the thresholds is about public participation. But you find that the way they do it is not really public participation because there is something that people circumvent. They just try to do things, make reports and try to justify in a boardroom that they engaged in public participation, but the people on the ground have no idea. We have seen this in most developments even within our constituencies. They say that there was public participation and you as a leader - the representative of the people - was never informed or invited for the meeting. You do not know where they engaged in such an arrangement. In this public-private partnership, county governments will conduct a feasibility study before they engage in a project so that they satisfy themselves that the project will benefit the people at the grassroots. Two areas where we really need this partnership is in health and education. Those areas are pertinent for any country to develop. We need to invest and look for partners who can help us develop this sector. For any country to develop anywhere in the world, those two sectors, namely, education and health, are very important. When those two functions, the nation will function and people will work, be healthy and informed. This Bill will bring a lot of fresh air into the county governments. We will make county governments more functional because most of them have been relying on the national Government to provide for them but now they can have a free hand to engage and look for The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}