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{
    "id": 871655,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/871655/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 953,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Elgeyo-Marakwet County, that Elgeyo-Marakwet is not going to be wound up or managed from Nairobi. It is going to continue thriving and use the resources which, in the last six years it has received more than Kshs18 billion. This amount of money would never have landed in Elgeyo-Marakwet County had we continued with a centralized system of Government. Even as we work and negotiate in this House, because the decision as to how much will go to which county once the division of revenue has been done, is through a formula that we negotiate in this House. We will all be equitable in the manner in which we are going to allocate money. We are not going to rob Nairobi because of a higher population and say that we will put more money in Isiolo County because of their smaller population. We will use what the Constitution talks about; equitable allocation. We will interrogate the formulas that come to this House so well to ensure that everybody gets a fair share of what they get. Once that is done, Elgeyo-Marakwet County must continue performing its role as a county. In the next 100 years, it must be said that the leaders who were there were more focused on developing the area. I want to assure the people of Elgeyo-Marakwet County that even if someone wished to close the county, they would be unable to do so because the Constitution protects our counties. Even in the future when we want to amend the Constitution, it would be so difficult to do away with our counties because the people of Kenya have already fallen in love with their counties. Even when they have fallen apart with their leaders, they still love their counties. It must be distinguished that poverty of ideas and poverty of leadership does not translate into punishing of counties. What Elgeyo-Marakwet County and many counties in this country lack is not the poverty of money; it is the poverty of ideas and leadership. As a nation, we must become innovative. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, even on the question of nurses, when people talk and say that the wage bill is high, the solution is not in making noise. The solution is in interrogating the quality of staff that we have in our counties and do the necessary thing. Those who are not serving should be able to leave. How is it possible that we are complaining of increased wage bill in our counties, yet county executives continue to hire people to their offices; continue to have as many vehicles as they wish and have advisers who have absolutely no value addition to the counties? For instance, I saw in another county that a former Member of Parliament (MP) has been appointed in one of the counties in the western region to become an adviser of the Governor on emerging issues. Emerging issues are just nebulous concepts that you cannot even tell what is an emerging issue. You do not know whether it is about going to space, the use of internet or what it is all about. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we should prudently channel our money to the human resource. I have no problem if we will pay a higher wage bill in our counties so that universal heath can be achieved. There is no way you can achieve universal health without a wage bill. You can talk about other sectors that you want to develop, but in the health sector, in my own opinion, is having the necessary---. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}