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{
    "id": 805008,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/805008/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 73,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Senate did not participate in passing some legislation on treaties although a county like Busia borders other countries. It was the National Assembly which debated and passed legislation on treaties. Going forward, it would be important to strengthen this office by recruiting the necessary staff. However, we are not giving county governments blank cheques to hire the way they would like. No. We will do this in consultation with the County Public Service Board (CPSB). The CPSB is key in recruiting staff of county governments. If we involve them, we will avoid conflict of interests. The County Attorney Office should function efficiently like any other office in the county government. The reason we want to enact some of these laws is to ensure devolution works as stipulated under Article 174 of the Constitution. This is one of the vital legislations we need to enact with speed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Clause 23 is a straight-forward one and I do not want to belabour a lot on it. Suffice it to say we need to protect the integrity of this office by ensuring we have a non-disclosure of vital information. For example, information on vetting, advising, drafting of legal agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), among others, should be treated with the utmost confidence. This is worth noting. We, as Senators, are worried because many counties enter into contracts, MoUs, agreements and even signing legal documents without following the laid down procedures. That is why they are taken to court, day in, day out. In this Bill, however, we have ensured that no such vital information will be disclosed by an officer at any given time in the course of his or her duty. Officers entrusted to offices must be guided by general practices and code of conduct if they were to disclose any information they come across in the course of discharging their duties. With regard to Clause 25 on County Seal, we agreed to delete it because the County Governments Act provides the county seal be in the custody of the county secretary. We do not want to bring the conflict of interest, especially in the transition period. A while ago, we had the second generation of governors in place. This House is lucky to have you, a former governor as the current Speaker. We have had transitional challenges in this country with regard to assumption of office by the governors. There is a law that is in place by Sen. Kimani Wamatangi on the Assumption of the Office of the Governor. With this Bill, we want to ensure that there is an obligation or proper handing over of instruments of power within the county governments. We, as a Committee, felt that the right person to be with the seal of the country is the county secretary. That is why we unanimously agreed to delete Clause 25 of the Bill. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Clause 26 says: “The County Attorney shall have access to relevant records, documents, property pertaining to civil or criminal cases in the performance of the duties of the County Attorney.” Since the county attorney is the principal legal advisor to the county government, there is need for him to access most of these documents of civil or criminal nature. We provided this because we thought a County Executive Committee (CEC) Member, a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the governor or his office may prevent the access of 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."
}