{"id":807253,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/807253/?format=json","text_counter":214,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Suna East, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Junet Nuh","speaker":{"id":2840,"legal_name":"Junet Sheikh Nuh","slug":"junet-sheikh-nuh"},"content":"The biggest gift this country gave itself in the new Constitution, 2010 is devolution. The amount of corruption, wastage and public theft that is happening down there is unacceptable. As a country we are focused so much on what is happening at the national level. However, when we go down to the villages unless this matter is arrested and addressed in a serious manner then devolution will become useless in this country. I think this is the sixth year we are passing this kind of a Bill. The Speaker and I were in the last Parliament and we passed the County Allocation of Revenue Bill again and again. We do not know where this money goes to. It should not be sent to the ground to pay salaries and the balance is taken by some people to be eaten as their own money. This country will not develop and the Big Four Agenda will not succeed. We will not go far unless this problem is fixed. We must come up with a mechanism that, next financial year, when passing this kind of Bill, any county that cannot account for the money they were given in the previous years should not benefit from more money. It is very unfortunate that we are discussing this when people are dying in the counties of small diseases like diarrhoea. The other day I heard in Naivasha there were cases of dysentery, typhoid and cholera. What is the disease called, hii ya kuharisha ? I cannot remember its name in English. We have these kinds of diseases when we are devolving Kshs.10 billion or Kshs.15 billion in one county. You have been in this country for many years. Look at this scenario, these counties have not been receiving this kind of money since Independence and life was going on. Hospitals and schools were being built, children were going to school and the Government was on the ground. We have now gone further and taken more money to the counties and our problems are increasing instead of decreasing. What does that tell you? The other day, the President came out and said he wants all finance and procurement officers to step aside. I thought counties would follow suit the same day and say all their finance and procurement officers should step aside. Are they not finance and procurement officers? The people of this country have also been failed by the Members of County Assemblies. In the National Assembly, departmental committees hold every ministry accountable at their level. The same was supposed to happen at the county assemblies. I do not know whether Kenyans elected illiterate people to those positions. In the actual sense that is what is supposed to happen. If they do not have experts, we have enough experts here in Parliament. We can send Njoroge to go and train them on how to hold the governor and 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."}