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{
"id": 890869,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/890869/?format=api",
"text_counter": 219,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
},
"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, when you look at the report, you realise that our governors and even county assemblies initiated development projects with completely varied Bills of Quantities (BQs). From the same county, we get different BQs and different dimensions of infrastructure. For instance, one has an office of 9,000 square metres while another 7,000 square metres. It is, therefore, very important that we standardise and have a prototype. That is why I support this Committee that we need to come up with a county assembly that is standardised in the whole country. This is so that the variation is only on cost of materials, but the maximum ceiling has been given. This is important for us. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is also important for us to know that when we talk of the governor’s residence, a governor only has a maximum of 10 years. It is, therefore, important to know that we are building it for the county, and not for the specific governor, speaker or any other person. There is no need to be so extravagant, the way we have seen the proposals that the CRA has expressed in this Report. We realize that as they gathered information, this Commission discovered not only the variability, but also the wastage that was going to take place. Madam Temporary Speaker, we do not know how anybody decided that the house they wanted to live in was going to cost Kshs400 million or Kshs800 million. This is one house where we have one individual, who is a governor for only 10 years. That would be wastage that we will be remembered for, as country. Wastage is not going to be recovered. I, therefore, support these ceilings that have been proposed; that a normal residence, like the houses that we live in, should be developed for our governors, and a figure of Kshs45 million is a very good figure. Similarly, the house for a deputy governor should be capped at Kshs35 million, which will give us a very good house. Even the acreage that has been given and expressed here in this Report is normal. There is no reason why you need an office inside 10 acres of land. If we allowed this kind of developments to continue, we would see a complete difference and disconnect between the buildings that we have for our county governments, and those that we have under development. Madam Temporary Speaker, we are talking of schools. We have heard debates about our schools. The teachers’ unions have been complaining that they live in dilapidated houses; that they go to dilapidated laboratories and teach in dilapidated buildings. As we devolve, we should be conscious of where we are, as country, and the kind of development that we must have for our institutions. This is because our institutions will cater for more people than the houses that we live in. Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, I strongly support the Report that has been given by this Committee, and the ceilings that they have given. For county headquarters, Kshs500 million is a lot of money. To build a county headquarters for anything more than Kshs500 million when, our secondary schools from Form One to Form Four, we spend less than Kshs4 million, it would mean that there is a lot of extravagance. Unless somebody else from the moon is building this; but if we are building using the same materials and the same contractors, then we must be conscious of the fact that the costs are exactly the same. 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."
}