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{
    "id": 811995,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/811995/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 85,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of capacity building is provided for within this Bill. Many Kenyans do not know their rights. Some of them only hear that the county governments have passed their budgets and do not know what is contained in it. They complain to us that they have presented this and that project, but it is not even captured in the budget read in the county assemblies. They have no recourse and that is why they complain to us. The last time I addressed the Isiolo County Assembly, I presented a particular project in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) plan, but it did not appear anywhere. Besides, the county assembly members are seated there passing that particular CIDP. Where are we heading? If a county assembly Member cannot influence his own decision, what about members of the public? This particular Bill is addressing all those issues. For public participation to be deemed a success, a report has to be written. Guidelines must be drawn and if there are complaints, there should be mechanisms in place to make sure they are addressed. I believe most of the solutions to our problems as a Senate will be addressed in this Bill. There should be a mechanism in place for enforcement whenever there is such violation in this particular Bill. Let members of the public have recourse if they know that whatever they proposed is not taken care of without proper justification. So, we must have something in place. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in addition, there should be accessibility of the venues and information. Last week people from Isiolo County called me complaining that they were unable to access the budget that was passed by the Isiolo County Assembly. This is a budget for a county. It contains matters affecting citizens of that particular county and yet they cannot access the information. We thank God that this Bill is addressing that particular concern. It says the county assembly should give enough notice to public participation, allow members of the public to access public participation venues and ensure reports are written. Therefore, it is important for us to fast-track the process of passing this legislation because it will solve a lot of problems of our people. The Bill also talks about of misrepresentation. In most cases, many reports at the county level are a misrepresentation of facts. Those reports do not capture what was proposed by members of the public, but decisions that were made on their behalf. This is really very wrong. During the time of one party system in this country, the structures we had were totally different from what we have now. We have constitutional provisions in place which provide for all the citizens to know their rights, make their own decisions and be involved in whatever projects taking place in their own counties. Currently, decisions are made for members of the public in terms of projects that will be funded in the budget. In most cases, those projects are not required in those places. However, simply because somebody wants something out of it, they make a decision for members of the public. Those projects become irrelevant and do not serve the purpose of those particular counties. Once this particular Bill is passed, it will address these concerns."
}