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{
    "id": 799032,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/799032/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 257,
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    "content": "water towers. However, the mechanisms of ensuring that this money is properly spent must also follow. What may happen is that we will end up having this money; we will then be told that trees were planted and they all died. We might also be told that people grazed their animals on them or that something else happened. This is happening over and over. I want our good country to borrow a leaf from South Korea. I was reading about South Korea and in 1960, they had a seven per cent forest cover. Today, it has a 78 per cent forest cover. It is not a miracle; we can do it. We have been talking to colleagues who have been to a desert country like Israel which has planted trees and has forests. What about a country where rain is now everywhere and people are submerged in water but after the rains disappear, we start crying again about droughts and lack of trees? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to encourage the Committee of this House responsible for matters environment to follow up the execution of this grant. This is because theKshs80 million being given to every water tower area is money from taxpayer’s of other countries. It is money denied from citizens of other countries to come and help the people of Kenya. When it gets here and it goes astray, it will not be a good idea. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to laud the allocation of money to counties, including your own, for building of headquarters. I remember we had a lot of protracted issues here until Sen. (Eng.) Karue brought a Motion and a Bill that obligated the national Government to allocate some money to Nyandarua, Tharaka Nithi and one or two other counties that did not have headquarters so that they could also have a capital for their county where work can be done decently. Equally important, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, is the liberation this House gave to county assemblies. Remember that at the beginning of devolution, county assemblies were appendages to the executive in the county. It is the governor who decided how much money to give to the county assemblies and at what intervals. You cannot possibly have them oversighting the pay master general. Now that they are getting their money directly, I encourage this House, particularly the County Public Accounts and Investment Committee (CPAIC), the Committee on Finance and Budget and committees that have something to do with use of public resources, to ensure that counties continue to develop their capacity as primary institutions of oversight and to ensure that they embrace what we call budget-tracking. We will not carry out post mortems after monstrous thefts have been committed. We should pass a budget and constantly evaluate, follow and track how the money is being implemented in the counties. Equally important is this Senate, I would want a situation where the distinguished Senators for Mandera, Bomet or Isiolo are capacitated by the House to run efficient offices in their counties to monitor how this money is being put to good use. What has been happening is that some counties have become net exporters of capital to Nairobi. You send money to your county and the next day, senior officials of your county are building villas in Karen, Runda and in downtown Nairobi. They are stealing the little money going to the county and exporting it back to Nairobi, which does not need their money. This can only be stopped and arrested by having serious working institutions of governance. We live in a country where the thieves of yesterday are the ones who are now preaching to everybody about accountability because yesterday is sealed and covered in concrete blocks and nobody will open it. You stole yesterday and everybody 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"
}