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"content": "now a budget of Kshs32 billion. However, the capacity to monitor and evaluate this money is missing. The capacity and ability for us, as Senators, to look at these projects or create public portals where wananchi can say that ‘yes, you have said that in Kasarani Ward, for example, this is the amount of money that has been budgeted on the programme based budget, the county government is saying that it is at 30 per cent, but I can see on the ground that it is at 0 per cent or 10 per cent’. I hope the Senate Majority Leader is listening, when these supplementary estimates come to this House, because they have been taken to the National Assembly, we must amend it. We must make sure that the resources for monitoring and evaluation of county governments are reallocated from the Ministry of Devolution and Planning back to where they are supposed to be; that is, at the Senate. This is because Senators must be equipped to actually monitor devolution within the counties. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is also important for us to note that too many projects have stalled in many counties, especially those that have new governors. Many of the new governors have stopped the projects that the previous governors were doing. Some say that they do not agree with specific projects or that the projects were done in areas that are not advantageous to them politically. This matter must be addressed and we must continue, through our Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations, working on how we can create bureaucracies within the counties that outlive the politics. I just spoke earlier about the state of healthcare in Nairobi. We have strained the few big hospitals that we have. The referral system is not working, yet in Mathare North, for instance, there is a 320 capacity hospital that is at maybe 40 per cent completion, but has been like that for more than 10 years. If that hospital in Mathare is completed, which of course is next to Kariobangi and other areas, you will reduce pressure on Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, Pumwani Maternity Hospital and Kenyatta National Hospital. If our dispensaries that we have in our estates and at the ward level have medicine, doctors and whatever resources that are required, we will reduce pressure and the strain on our resources. The amount of money spent on proper needs must be addressed. We must look at how we prioritize issues. If you look at some of the budgets, and that is why the discussion that we had earlier today is important to me--- The fact that the Nairobi Governor can go and act shocked that bodies of dead babies are being kept in boxes and there is no cold storage, yet it is his same county government that is supposed to have budgeted for cold storage facilities and ensure that these bodies of children who passed on - and may God rest their souls in peace - are promptly transported to the morgues in a dignified manner, leaves a lot to be desired. That is why we must build the capacity of Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs), who are the first point of call for accountability and making sure that money we are allocating - this kshs15.8 billion in my particular example - is used properly and for what the mwananchi needs. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must look at not just the level, but the structure of our debt in our country. For instance, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to debt ratio is probably around 54 per cent. Some people will say that it is okay because the upper limit is 58 per cent and we have not yet reached there. However, it must never be a race to hit 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."
}