Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 943842,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/943842/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 51,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, district hospitals had similar challenges, but at least at that time, the Government was not accountable to the people. At Independence, our leaders used to talk about the three major challenges that faced the Government then. The nation was to fight the three challenges which were poverty, ignorance and disease. Reading through this Motion, some of the to-do lists can be elicited from the ideas as stated by Sen. Nyamunga in the Motion. It is often a matter of concern when you are in the village and somebody is taken ill. For example, in Siaya County, ordinarily, many times when somebody falls ill in the village, they avoid the facilities run by the county government. They would rather go to private facilities run by private entities, including mission hospitals. Many times I have sent people to such institutions. People also trust funeral homes that are run by private individuals rather than public institutions, including those run by county governments. This call to action is of immediate concern and need. I truly believe that county governments can achieve this particular goal without any additional funds. There is a lot of money being raised locally. Over the years, because of the emphasis of the money that is being raised at the national level and allocated to counties, I think the radars have not been pointed at the revenue that is raised locally. County assemblies should be the point of call for auditing and oversighting funds locally raised by county governments. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the potential for each county by considering the monies that were being raised before devolution came and what is being raised locally, the only explanation is that there is a lot of wastage or fraud in collection and expenditure of locally raised resources. Those are the types of resources that can be channeled to achieve the goals that have been set out in this Motion. We have seen the problem with the UHC programme when it comes to the leasing of equipment. You can have the best equipment in the world, but if you do not have the people to use them in the manner they are supposed to, they are all good for nothing. Unless you have people who are properly trained, you cannot carry out primary healthcare effectively. I hope that as we approach the end of the second half of this Parliament since devolution, the country will be shown something that has come up from the counties. All signs are that new ideas coming up are being funded by funds from the National Treasury. The Senator for Bungoma County opined here that there is a lot of brick and mortar kind of institutions and projects, but sometimes services are more important. They may not be seen ordinarily in terms of buildings or roads, but without those services and the staff to provide them, the achievements that we have pronounced ourselves to be mobilizing energies towards, including the Vision 2030, will all be a long story, but no action. Without taking too long, I support this Motion and commend Sen. Nyamunga for bringing it."
}