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    "id": 813480,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/813480/?format=api",
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    "content": "Women Representatives also, in the third week, go and give bursaries. That confusion informs us that there is a challenge in terms of data sharing. These statistics should be shared across the board, especially with the policy makers, so that we do not end up duplicating roles. Let us share these statistics before any decision is made by any leader. If you ask a Member of Parliament the number of people they allocated bursaries to in the Financial Year 2017/2018; they cannot tell. These are statistics that must be shared across all Government agencies. I would suggest to Sen. Farhiya that we should also factor in the development partners, so that when we discuss the issue of external borrowing – which this country is working on a red tape – we must agree that we have certain statistics that we can rely on. I would request Sen. Farhiya, who is a good accountant, to consider ensuring that some of these statistics are not only shared to the agencies within the Government, but also the development partners. Some of us have engaged with foreign donors and development partners. Most of them will just want to look at statistics. When you draw a proposal maybe on child mortality or any other empowerment project, for example, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) would ask for statistics. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is good to put on record that you were our patron when we were in campus and used to work with the USAID in drawing proposals. You were a very able patron, who used to guide us on how to work on statistics. The development partners would not just want to sit in a room and then you tell them: “Approximately.” They would want you to have what we call military precision. Those words are famous with one Member of Parliament from Ainabkoi Constituency, Hon. Chepkut. On the issue of regulations, we are giving the County Executive Committee (CEC) Members unlimited powers. We know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I have looked at the Access to Information Act and would propose that, in terms of oversighting this board, we should have the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) or the Ombudsman, so that at the end of the day, these people can be oversighted. On how this Board is being formed, we can give that opportunity to the CAJ or the Ombudsman because they have the capacity and ability to come up with a board and do oversight. In my proposal, the Cabinet Secretary (CS), in line with devolution, should be given an opportunity to make rules and regulations. Nowadays, with a lot of power struggle within counties, the CEC Member in charge might decide to make regulations that even defeat the spirit and substance of Article 35 of the Constitution on access to information. They can even go out and stifle. We should have uniformity. I think that is the proposal that we should be looking at. When we spoke about the County Boundaries Bill, we were very clear that we give it to a Cabinet Secretary so that we have uniformity of rules and regulations across the 47 counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have looked at Section 13 of the Access to Information Act. The accuracy of statistics is key and that numbers do not lie. There is a song which I cannot sing here and some people know it. It says that some other things can lie, but numbers do not. For accuracy, we can still rely ---"
}