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{
    "id": 801233,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/801233/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 145,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "I also support and laud the Speech because it is in line with the Article 132 of the Constitution, which is about the national values. That addresses our biggest problem of corruption. It is also in the fulfilment of our international obligations that require us to live as a nation amongst nations and as one of them. We know the President’s Speech can be summarised as one of good intentions. We believe that there is support behind it. We need to do more in the area of security. What has happened or is happening in our schools is something we need to address. The Speech also touched on devolution. This is an important item. It is the biggest reform that this country has undergone since Independence. Therefore, support for devolution and county governments is extremely important. We need to realise that the problems we have had with devolution is because the transition from a centered Government to a devolved one did not go through the transition in line with Schedule Six and the Transition to Devolved Government Act that created the Transitional Authority. We did not do what we needed to do. Therefore, we must, as a country, go back and do what we needed to do, namely, create systems that will support county governments. We must also, at the same time, facilitate the flow of funds to county governments. I am particularly concerned about this during the budget process. We often have disagreements between the House and the Senate. In my view, this is because of the budget process which brings county governments late into the process, which is after we have gone through the Budget Policy Statement (BPS). We should look at all this and facilitate the flow of funds to the counties. Also, the national Government must, in agreement with the county governments, always use Article 187 and support county governments. Whatever we say, county governments still need strong systems. They have not developed systems. I noted, in our county, for example, our governor wanted to audit a huge pending bill of nearly Kshs3 billion. When he put a task force to audit this, he found that the county government system could not do it. He had to call on the national audit office. With that, it was reduced to a mere Kshs500 million. On corruption, I appreciate the actions that have been taken and are going on now. But we are a bit hesitant because of past history. We had the Anglo-Leasing scandal, Goldenberg scandal, the NYS 1 and we are still going on. I support the sending away of the procurement officers. Since it has been done in a blanket way, we need that facilitation, work fast and get facts so that those who need to be dealt with are dealt with."
}