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{
    "id": 843014,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/843014/?format=api",
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    "content": "to Uasin Gishu next week. I suggest that should just be the beginning of moving to each of these counties. We should be specific on the problems; what is happening and where the problems really lie. We need to come up with clear systems of accountability in the specific counties. We have the problem of debt payments. A Bill that has been brought to this House by Sen. Wamatangi tries to address the issue of transition from one government to another. If pending bills are accumulated by the current administration, how will the incoming one cope with the expenditures that they are coming up with in terms of their budget and how to deal with debts? We should also look at the extent to which the county governments are held liable to the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) in the counties and whether this has been achieved. The concept of public participation is the most important thing in this Constitution. We have not paid enough attention to that. We need to raise the premium. Transparent and tranquil governments have an open governance system (OGS). You will just click on a button on the computer and it will run for you the county expenses; how much has gone from the treasury, into which county and what it has been used for. Having such transparent systems will enable people to question. You can go to counties and ask people; this is what the county has planned to do. This is your CIDP and these are the projects that you have. Have these been actualized? One Senator said in one of the discussions we had recently that the Controller of Budget has a list of all these projects that are meant to be undertaken in the counties. So, it is possible to begin to inform Kenyans that this is not a favour. Devolution is not a favour to anybody. It is the way out for us to quicken the level of development and social–economic empowerment of our people to get us to where we need to go. I was saddened when I heard a Senator talking about the need to lobby the Treasury, for example, for these funds. What else might be going on in between all that is happening there? All these checks and balances and the separation of powers is very important. So, again, we need to have operational transience and automated operationalisation from the point we have released these funds. That becomes the agenda for this Senate. We need to follow through sufficiently to know that these funds have reached the counties and have been used in those counties. In one of the visits in the 11th Parliament, we went to Kericho County. We had a sense of how revenue is collected right up to the end but also as we said, there is a lot of craftiness in what finally ends up on our tables. We heard the Chairperson of CPAIC say that at the end of the day, we become morticians. We look at the Auditor-General’s reports and make queries, sometimes for governors who were not in office at that particular time. We need to move away from that. Last but not least, we need to revisit the whole issue. We need to ask questions and get answers for the questions that we ask. For example, how can the county local revenue be less that the local authorities’ revenue? With the changes that have happened and taxes that are collected from the people, how can we lack some sort of automated systems? 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."
}