{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=136961","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=136959","results":[{"id":1386011,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386011/?format=json","text_counter":269,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Nominated, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. (Dr) Jackson Kosgei","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. From the onset, I want to support the Regional Development Authority Bill. It has been said that purpose dictates priority. The Regional Development Authorities were created and tasked with a unique mandate in the progression and development of our country, and in trying to fulfill the agenda of developing Kenya uniformly. About 40 years ago, in the regimes that followed, there was a concern that some regions had not been developed. It looked like the development agenda of 1965 would not help them. As a colleague mentioned, those regional bodies and authorities were created to mitigate this. They were mandated to initiate and implement integrated multi-purpose programmes and projects for sustainable utilisation of resources that are found in regional areas of our country. It has served to a certain extent. With the advent of the implementation of our Constitution through the two-tier system of Government, which has now improved the intention developed at that time, there is a need to reform those bodies to meet the same demands. There is a saying by elders from where I come from that you cannot shelter under a tree when there is sunshine, and when you get the overall shade, you cut it down. The only thing we can do to those authorities is to reform them. We want to understand the concerns of the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party when he mentioned the people from the Coast. We appreciate the participation of people from the Coast since 1963. It has produced some of the best politicians in this country; who have served this nation with distinction. They have produced technocrats and bureaucrats who have served this country because, at one point, we had the Head of Public Service coming from the Coast. Marginalisation of the Coast, northern areas and other places is what Sessional Paper No. 10 could not serve. As we correct it, let us do it without putting the country into silos. We must maintain the nationalisation of our projects. In conclusion, I join my colleagues in saying that our reformation must address the harmonisation of those particular authorities with the concept that is rising in the economic blocs of our counties because they are spread along the same regions. We need to align it with our Constitution. We must do so with appreciation that those authorities were supposed to foster an integrated and sustainable economic development by empowering the communities The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1386012,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386012/?format=json","text_counter":270,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Nominated, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. (Dr) Jackson Kosgei","speaker":null,"content":"that hosted it. The authorities must be what they used to be without balkanising the country. We must encourage the nationalisation of our focus in terms of developing our nation. With that, I support this Bill. I also want to congratulate the Chairman, Hon. Lochakapong, for leading his Committee and bringing this Bill. Thank you."},{"id":1386013,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386013/?format=json","text_counter":271,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" Thank you. Hon. Japheth Nyakundi."},{"id":1386014,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386014/?format=json","text_counter":272,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kitutu Chache North, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Japheth Nyakundi","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Bill. Regional Development Authorities (RDAs) are fundamental entities that were started to act as devolved functions back then. With the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, most have been rendered redundant because most of their functions have either been taken by the national Government or the county governments. As a House, we must look for the best way to ensure that those RDAs work optimally. A good example is the Lake Basin Development Authority, which gets from the exchequer about Ksh200 to Ksh300 million in a financial year. This money goes into paying recurrent expenditures and personal emoluments. The employees do not have any work to do. They are just seated in the offices the whole year doing nothing. We need to look for a way that those RDAs are either amalgamated or this honourable House decides that we put enough money and resources into those RDAs to enable them work efficiently. We cannot have employees in offices who are not doing any work. They are qualified and need to be on the ground working for Kenyans, and not just sitting in the offices. I support this Bill. There has to be a way of ensuring that county governments and the National Government co-operate with the Regional Development Authorities (RDAs). Most RDAs have done boreholes or markets that need maintenance, but there is no one to do it. Once the boreholes are done, they should be taken back to the county governments so that they can maintain them as the days go by. I also support the standardisation of the board members. Having nine board members is very important. Some RDAs have 12 members, while others have seven instead of the nine we have proposed. We need to ensure that those RDAs are put under one Act. Ewaso Nyiro South, Ewaso Nyiro North, and the Lake Basin Authority, have their Acts. We need to amalgamate them and put all those RDAs under one Act. I want to thank Hon. Lochakapong for doing an excellent job in bringing this Bill so we can amend it. I partially wish to support Hon. Owen Baya. We have competent people in this country who can be deployed everywhere. The people from those regions are also supposed to be on the board of those RDAs because they understand the topography of those areas better than those who have come in from other areas. I fully support this Bill, and thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity."},{"id":1386015,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386015/?format=json","text_counter":273,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" Hon. Suzanne."},{"id":1386016,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386016/?format=json","text_counter":274,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Makueni, WDM","speaker_title":"Hon. Suzanne Kiamba","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I want to add my voice to this very important Bill on the issue of RDAs."},{"id":1386017,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386017/?format=json","text_counter":275,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Loud consultations)"},{"id":1386018,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386018/?format=json","text_counter":276,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" Order, Hon. Suzanne. I am a strict follower of the law, and I am following the list very well. Hon. Suzanne is the one to speak to this now, and I will continue to do so. Just key in the card, and I will do exactly that. Proceed, Hon. Member."},{"id":1386019,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386019/?format=json","text_counter":277,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Makueni, WDM","speaker_title":"Hon. Suzanne Kiamba","speaker":null,"content":" RDAs were crucial in transforming Kenya in the 1980s and the 1990s, before the pre-devolution period. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1386020,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386020/?format=json","text_counter":278,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Makueni, WDM","speaker_title":"Hon. Suzanne Kiamba","speaker":null,"content":"With the changing context where counties and the national Government have clear outlined roles in facilitating development in this area, I find it difficult to explain the specific roles of some RDAs. Some are poorly resourced, and their only budget is for salaries. I am often left wondering: Are we employing people for them just to get salaries? Do those authorities not have clear mandates of what they should do? Key authorities like Tana and Athi River Development Authority (TARDA) have a big mandate, especially because they operate in most marginal areas. However, most of them do not have budgets except for recurrent expenditure. Is there any need to have authorities that have outgrown their usefulness? Some of those authorities need to be closed down if we cannot fund them. When we have governance and management structures, it should not be for salaries only, but also aimed at meeting a purpose that would drive this country to a higher level. However, when we have authorities that have been reduced to bodies that are meant to give salaries and for people to have sitting allowances, as a country, we are missing the point. Nevertheless, I have heard an argument that those RDAs, sometimes, lack expertise because people want them to have people from their own areas. While we appreciate that the board members in those RDAs are from local areas, we would be very retrogressive if, as Kenyans, we would start looking at ourselves in a localised and village-like way. No wonder our politics are also going in that direction. Nowadays, you listen to arguments, which, in most cases, would result in tribal and village arguments, which is demeaning for a National Assembly that is supposed to drive the country to the next level. Those bodies need to have representatives from the local area to give some context. However, we need the expertise to drive those bodies to a higher level and enable us to achieve the set objectives. While I thank the Member of Parliament for bringing this Bill, it still needs quite a number of amendments. I do not see the meaning of such bodies taking away the work of the county governments. Why should we give county governments less money because we are trying to divide the money to give to authorities? We are bringing co-wife business to developing Kenya. That because you have two wives, you have to give each wife Ksh20,000 without looking at the purpose of the marriage. If those were bodies aimed at transforming Kenya, we should look at their capacity to transform Kenya."}]}