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{
    "id": 871688,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/871688/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 986,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "I congratulate the leadership for having chosen to retain the Members who were serving in the Committee last Session at least for purposes of institutional memory and continuity. I challenge the Members who are serving in the Committee to be innovative and pragmatic. Corruption is a white collar crime. There will always be effort and attempts to ensure that people who steal and embezzle public money that is meant for development, that they hide their tracks. However, we must be innovative. I am not a Member of the CPAIC, but those who are privileged to serve in it must be custodians of the public money that we send to our counties. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the people who enacted the Kenya Constitution in 2010, what they had in mind is transformation of the lives of the people who live in the counties. Some of the most key functions were devolved, including health. However, we find cases where even medicine that is meant to be supplied to hospitals is sold to private business people. It was saddening to see what I saw in Machakos the other day. The Governor of Machakos, Dr. Alfred Mutua was acting helpless when he was raiding a chemist that is right opposite the county headquarters. This is something that is replicated virtually in all counties. Unless we send a very strong message to people who are in the county governments that it is painful and it will not be beneficial to embezzle money that is meant to provide services to wananchi, there will be a state of hopelessness. Most of us who go to counties, people look at the Senators as the only people they can trust to protect public resources. It will be very unfortunate and almost a disaster, if we lose that faith and confidence that we enjoy from the people we serve. I want to urge Members of this Committee to live up to the expectations of our people. We want to see blood, where money is being lost. Where we are having ghost projects we might bring these things to the attention of the people we serve. I hope we will be empowered or well-resourced as Senators to undertake our role of oversight. I hope that we will shift our gear from just sitting in Nairobi and going through the reports by the Auditor-General to extend these sessions to our counties. Most of the queries that are raised by the Auditor-General are things we can verify by making physical visit to our counties. I sat in the session that grilled my Governor from Nyamira. I remember we made an undertaking to the people of Nyamira 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."
}