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{
    "id": 890870,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/890870/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 33,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
        "slug": "margaret-kamar"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I thank the National Housing Corporation (NHC) for doing the measurements meticulously and coming up with reasonable figures. This is because it was going to be a shame for us to build houses for ourselves, governors or speakers at costs that are unimaginable. It looks as if Kshs1 million is nothing in this country, and that is why you can hear of somebody talking of a building costing Kshs800 million. Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, mine is to support the ceilings that have been proposed and to urge the Committee that they must monitor implementation of these resolutions. This is because, as a Senate, our role borders on oversight. We must ensure that the interests of the counties and county governments are taken care of. In that role, we expect this Committee to monitor. Madam Temporary Speaker, I support what a Member said earlier, that this is an agenda that belongs to the first group of county governments. We failed in the first round; therefore this time round, we must finish. We need to give ourselves a deadline and make sure that within the next year or two, we have completed the development of both the residences of our county government officials, county assemblies and county government headquarters. Most of our headquarters – I can mention the example of Uasin Gishu County Government, in particular – are actually within buildings that had already been done by the county councils for the mayors. Therefore, the amount of work that will be done within these headquarters, in some cases, will not be as much as what we are seeing in these documents as proposals that have been given. Our expectation, Madam Temporary Speaker, would be that the Committee on Finance and Budget will continue to monitor the development to ensure that, at the end of the day, we get value. This is because some counties will not spend the Kshs500 million that we are talking about; and others will not even spend the Kshs35 million for the speaker’s residence because of the variability within the country. We know that in some places, the stones that we are talking about are cheaper than in other places. Similarly, cement and sand are cheaper in some places compared to other places. We need to get value for money. Madam Temporary Speaker, as I wind up, it is important that we not only get value for money, but we also get decent buildings without being extravagant. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}