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{
    "id": 832952,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/832952/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 390,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Ali",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I am happy to be the last one. I stand to support the Motion. I have never been a councillor like many of my friends here but I know what they do. They are very helpful and important people in the community for they are the ones who are at the grass root level. Whenever there are problems, talks, rallies, clashes or problems at family level, they are the people who are consulted. They suffer more than anybody else. The Members of Parliament are away most of the time and the best they can do is appear there over the weekend and the Senators do the same. The former councillors were real grass root leaders and they are very important in the community. In our areas, we still depend on them up to now. They have all been thrown out because of the requirement on education and they could not vie because most of them were illiterate. Many of them are not Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) now but when you compare the MCAs and the councillors, you will realise that the MCAs are mostly young men who have gone to school but they do not know the traditions and neither do they know what should be done with problems at family, constituency or even ward level. Therefore, we still use the councillors up to this time. I wish that we would be able to give the one-off honorarium without limiting it. Some people will say that politicians fight for themselves but there are times when you just have to do that. In this world, nobody is going to help you if you do not help yourself. The reality is that councillors are very important and they do a lot of things for this community at the grass root level. The Kshs30,000 per month will not be much but it will at least enable them help their families. When I go home, several of them come to see me and they always petition us asking for the reason the Senate is not helping them. The MCAs also have problems right now especially the nominated MCAs who do not get mileage and I do not know why. Some of these issues should be looked into and this is the responsibility of the Senate because it is the custodian of the county. We need to help the leadership of the counties in whatever way we can."
}