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{
    "id": 799211,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/799211/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 116,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Madam Temporary Speaker. The Senators here are surprised at the length of my name. I want to support the Motion for adjournment that the Senate can alter its calendar and to proceed on a recess from Friday, to participate in the Third Annual Legislative Summit. I have spoken to a number of MCAs from across the country and they are looking forward to this Legislative Summit. As my colleagues said, there is need for us to embed and institutionalize the Legislative Summit and the interactions of the Senate with the assemblies at the county level. In many assemblies, you will find that they have not been given the capacity and because of the interventions by their governors, the oversight role is not being played, yet the caliber and quality of our MCAs has gone up in most of our county assemblies. We have doctors, engineers and lawyers who are MCAs. The county assembly is the first port or station of accountability of the county government or the executive. Most of us forget that the county government, according to the Constitution, is the county executive and the county assembly, but the county assemblies see themselves as an appendage of the executive, as if they are subservient. Many times, you find that they end up pandering to the whims of a governor as opposed to the needs of their people. We need to strengthen the county assemblies for without that, we cannot strengthen devolution. Devolution as was said earlier today during the kamukunji with the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), is based on subsidiarity and the more you can do at the lowest level possible, the better for devolution. When services offered at the lowest level are compatible with the benefit, then the leaders should be equipped at that stage. As a Senate, we need to consider the Ward Development Fund (WDF) as we go to interact with the MCAs. I do not understand why anybody would resist the creation of such a fund if we can accept the existence of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). When it comes to separation of powers, the fund is administered by the county executive; that ensures that projects are identified by the community at the ward level. Most of the devolved functions will then be implemented through the executive, of course, not through the MCA for we will not give them money, but it is good for our people and for the country. There are certain counties where the governors will only concentrate on the areas that gave them votes or where their clans are, in the counties that have deep divisions of clans. This is because they know that it does not matter what they do for the other clans, for they will still not be voted in. The Ward Development Fund makes sure that every single part of a county has some development going on. Was the law made for man or was man made for the law? If there is a problem with the law such that it is preventing development that is coming from the county allocation to reach the people, then provide the law for it in a manner that you can have these specific functions to avoid duplication. What CDF does is different from what the governor does for it is a national government function. The Ward Development Fund 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"
}