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{
    "id": 814989,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/814989/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 134,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 33,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
        "slug": "margaret-kamar"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to add to the voice of my colleagues in discussing this very important Bill. From the outset, the Bill, in my opinion, does not sit well in devolution. We need to ask ourselves why we want to do irrigation. Irrigation is the process of enhancing food production, which means that we are only doing it for agricultural purposes. The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution is very clear that there is only one role that has been given to the national Government as far as agriculture is concerned, that is, the agricultural and veterinary policies. Everything else lies with the county governments and that is why this Bill is not sitting well with devolution as per the current the Constitution. That means that the Bill is decentralising what was devolved by the Constitution. This Senate must look at this Bill carefully and check what has been devolved, so that we do not decentralise. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what was the reason for devolving? If we look at the reason for devolution, according to the objects of devolution, Kenyans were very clear on what they wanted to achieve when we created a devolved government system. Sometimes we may misread some of the Articles. Article 174 (b) of the Constitution reads- “To foster national unity by recognizing diversity.” This is one area where we have misread and behaved as though diversity is equal to ethnicity. We keep talking about diversity to mean our diverse cultures and ethnicity, without considering the fact that we are actually diverse as far as ecological zones of this 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."
}