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{
    "id": 848550,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/848550/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 52,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Khaniri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 171,
        "legal_name": "George Munyasa Khaniri",
        "slug": "george-khaniri"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order No.46(2)(a), I rise to make a Statement on a county issue relating to the underutilization of development funds at the counties, massive corruption and alleged diversion of public funds to personal accounts by some county officials. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 has established two levels of Government, namely the national Government and the 47 county governments. Under this arrangement, there is a bicameral national Parliament made up of the Senate and the National Assembly and the 47 county assemblies. Experiences the world over show that such arrangements improve the quality of the legislative output and enables better service delivery. In our case, service delivery in the country has improved to some extent and Kenyans can attest to closer, better and expanded political leadership since 2013 when the provisions relating to the legislature under the current dispensation started being implemented in earnest. Since the inception of county assemblies after the election of 4th March, 2013, there have been both strides towards entrenching operations and improving performance of these important legislative bodies in the country. The 11th Parliament Senate rolled out numerous programmes towards capacitating and entrenching county assemblies. The leadership, staff committees and members of the assemblies were involved in benchmarking visits to the Senate. The Senate Speaker then ensured the establishment of the Senate Liaison Office, an exchange programme, for the induction of various county assemblies to the legislative operations of a legislature. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the County Assembly of Vihiga in particular, is one of the beneficiaries of the Senate programmes. During the 11th Senate, five delegations from the County Assembly of Vihiga visited the Senate for benchmarking. Senate records which I have had the benefit of seeing, bear evidence that many other county assemblies benefited through the Senate Programme. The Senate has also initiated and operationalized the Annual Legislative Summit whose central objective is promoting engagements between the Senate, county assemblies and the relevant stakeholders in devolution agenda. Further, I have established that a good number of Senators have also taken the initiative to address their county assemblies pursuant to Standing Orders No.241(1) of the Senate Standing Orders and the relevant provisions of the rules of procedure of the respective county assemblies. For Vihiga, I have personally made it an annual engagement. These engagements collectively have ensured the improvement and growth of not only the county assemblies’performance but also county governance as a whole. 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."
}