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{
    "id": 857657,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/857657/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 191,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "The Deputy Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "entire country. It is also a matter that is affecting one of the most important functions within the framework of devolution; namely, the health function. Hon. Senators, I have sat in this Senate for the last six years. I am aware that the issue of health has been troublesome across the country for a long time in terms of how it is being handled. I recall that in both the past in the current Senate, Senators have consistently raised an issue with regard to health, particularly the administration of the Managed Equipment Scheme under the Ministry of Health, where issues of cost have been raised. Hon. Senators, at some point, I remember this House had a very heated debate on the adjustment of cost upwards. However, more importantly as other Senators have mentioned variously this afternoon, there have been issues that, perhaps, many of the equipment that are lying in many county hospitals across the country are either not required or could be obsolete. They also have not been requisitioned and the county governments have not been consulted on whether or not they need those equipment. I have also experienced, as a Senator, where you find equipment that has not used for the last two or three years, yet the county is paying routinely for the idle equipment using the meagre resources. This is equipment which does not even have one single person who is trained to operate it; neither does it have space for storage. Hon. Senators, we have beaten around the bush for a long time. It is good that the Chairperson of the Committee on Health has admitted that they are unable to deal with this issue. However, it is a huge indictment to you and to your Committee; but to you particularly. This is because if we are here, lamenting how the Senate has not been able to rein in on the national Government in terms of making sure that the relationships which are supposed to be maintained between the national and county governments are maintained; and that devolution is respected on matters heath, then the blame lies squarely on your doorstep and your Committee. As the leader of that Committee, the buck stops with you. Having said that, hon. Senators, we cannot keep on lamenting all the time. For the few months I have been in this Chair, I have noticed the tendency of Government functionaries thinking that Parliament and the Houses of Parliament just exist as a by the way; and are subservient to the other arms of Government. Nothing can be further from the truth than that."
}