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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second outcome that I think is very important in this Bill is that it seeks to give people a say in the management of public resources. There is a misconception that once money is devolved to the counties, then governors own that money and it is them who decide how it is going to be used or not. However, through public participation, the people will have a direct say on how their resources will be utilised. If those resources are not utilised in the way they want them to be utilized, they will have recourse in this Bill. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the third outcome, which I find very important is that through this Bill, people in every village in this country will determine what projects they want for themselves. These will not be those projects that are conceived in boardrooms and implemented through dubious means. These will be projects that the people want and which will have an impact on their lives. In my view, those three outcomes will even make the oversight role of the Senate more effective and less acrimonious. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I join my colleagues in supporting this Bill, I want to specifically identify two or three parts in it. Clause 4 of the Schedule talks about giving sufficient notice to the people before they can participate in discussions and deliberations about projects and management of resources belonging to them. This is very important because the tradition in most counties has been that County governments would wake up one morning and decide that the same day, in the afternoon, there would be a public participation meeting on a road project in some village. When officials from those county governments go for that public participation, they actually do not engage in any form of public participation. What they do is that they lecture communities and villagers on the importance of the projects that they have brought to them. They then require the public to approve the projects so that they can move on to the next meeting. However, this Bill makes it mandatory that sufficient notice must be given for the people to prepare and get ready to participate in making decisions about their projects and their resources. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another Clause in the main body that is important to me is Clause 5. It identifies the officers who will be held to account for public participation or for breach of the same. It has been a tradition, again, that when people are found in breach of the requirements for public participation, a blame game of who is really responsible for it sets in. In this Bill, offices that must take responsibility have been identified for the proper conduct of public participation. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I conclude, once this Bill becomes law, there are some ugly public incidents that this country will be saved from, and I will begin from my own county. In a very well thought out, well-meaning and well-intentioned action to conserve the environment, the county government decided to ban the burning and sale of charcoal for commercial purposes. This was a very good idea which was supported by very many people. However, because of lack of proper public participation, a noble idea like this resulted in unnecessary damage to property and acrimony between communities. If the county government had conducted proper public participation on this matter, then the people would have been able to differentiate and draw the line between environmental conservation and business ventures in which people have invested millions of shillings. The same applies to the current scenario in Turkana County, where the 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."
}