{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=137904","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=137902","results":[{"id":1395441,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395441/?format=json","text_counter":297,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Sen. Maanzo. Sen. Oketch Gicheru, you may have the Floor."},{"id":1395442,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395442/?format=json","text_counter":298,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Oketch Gicheru","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Sen. Cherarkey is looking at me with unusual eyes. I do not know what is going on but it is okay. I feel protected especially because it is in the evening. Sen. Cherarkey is not as dangerous in the evening as he is at the start of the session. Indeed, this is a wonderful Bill. If you read Chapter Six of the Constitution, it starts by defining the territory of our country purely in the context of counties. It is furthered in Schedule One, whereby counties that we enjoy being part of in our respective capacities, are well enumerated in Schedule One, from No.1 to 47. The challenge with the Constitution is that the idea of boundaries of those territorial units in our larger territory called Kenya were not well defined. I belabour to say that the definition of that was furthered by the use of the Districts and Provinces Act of 1992; to be specific, CAP 105. Wherein, the boundaries that were used to determine counties which were previous districts under the said Act were not satisfactory, it is natural that the issue of boundaries was always going to emanate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, to be specific, solving such an issue becomes very complex because there is the issue of determining what the boundary of a county is and The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1395443,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395443/?format=json","text_counter":299,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Oketch Gicheru","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"the issue of altercations that come with altering those boundaries because of different issues. I find this Bill amazingly placed in the context of helping our counties to define their borders. Last year, one of the biggest confrontations that we had in this House was on the issue of Sondu versus Kericho. If you remember, my brother, Sen. (Dr.) Boni Khalwale of Kakamega together with yours truly, Eddy Oketch, had a small confrontation on the loss of lives in Sondu. This loss was in a such a way that the people between Kisumu and Kericho have been fighting over what constitutes the boundary of those two counties. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, sometimes these disputes come with economic excitement and interest. If you look at Sondu, it is one of the most performing markets in that region. Sometimes, the issue is; who collects the local revenue in this border centre that attracts serious economic activity and the arrangement becomes an endemic fight that will always go on? This Bill seeks to put together a good legal framework that can allow people to sit and address these issues. We know that Article 188 that has been quoted here a number of times does not suggest that the disputes of boundaries will be sorted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). The IEBC comes in boundaries review. However, before reviewing the boundaries, there is the question of, where do I belong as a person from Kisumu or Kericho? Even most recently, where do I belong as a person from Kisii if I am from Kisii vis-a-vis where do I belong as a person from Nyamira? That fundamental question of what is actually the boundary of a county comes to play before IEBC can review the boundary. So, before we talk about boundaries review, that is the basic definition this Bill seeks to address by establishing what it calls the Independent Counties Boundaries Commission (ICBC). This Commission is in line with Article 188 of the Constitution because this Article does not refer to IEBC as the fundamental institution to resolve the issue of boundaries. However, it refers to any independent commission that can be formed using a Parliamentary process such as this one that Sen. M. Kajwang’ has rightfully put together in this Bill to help us rethink the issue of boundaries. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is important because the nature of our boundaries that were drawn under the Districts and Provinces Act, 1992 and the physical features or the landmarks that were used at that time have since changed. If you think about it, many things have changed from 1992 to to date. In 1992, I remember there was the Rio Summit that sought to bring to the attention of some grassroots communities the idea of climate change. No one took climate change very seriously at that time because it was an issue that had just come in 1998 through one National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientist called James Hansen. He brought that to the Senate of the United State of America (USA) that climate change was becoming a major issue that needed to be addressed. If you look at the case for investment in climate change since 1992 to date, there has not been a robust investment to deal with the problems of climate change. Now, a The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1395444,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395444/?format=json","text_counter":300,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Oketch Gicheru","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"child born in 1992 is probably 31 years old. Within 32 years, many things have happened in terms of delineation of a physical feature that defined boundaries at that time. If for instance, a river that used to be seasonal, was used as a feature at that time in the district boundaries marking and even in redistricting, by now the river no longer exists. If you used that river to say district X which then became boundary Y in the current arrangement used that river, you cannot even imagine where that river existed. This would lead to serious perpetual conflict after conflict. Therefore, having such a legal mechanism as what is proposed in this Bill is the right and best way to go to make sure that the dispute we are seeing in county boundaries is solved. Part 4 and 5 of this Bill is very explicit on the process and persona of the people who can propose the review of boundaries and even alteration. The Bill has attempted to define very well the people who can propose those alterations. It gives the power to the individuals in terms of any person within a county but more specifically, it gives people like Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) who live in our grassroots communities the power to review boundaries by being able to propose and petition Parliament, especially, the Senate. This is because most of these boundaries’ issues are going to affect counties. Therefore, this is the House where they can to highlight such things. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it gives even the Senators the power to Petition for a review of a boundary in the context of its alteration. I find that to be ingenious because other than that, the issue of alteration of boundaries has been a political issue. If you think about it, it is where, for instance, governors who sometimes have the interest of collecting small revenue in the small markets within our boundaries, tend to charge people in emotive political narratives on what constitutes their boundaries or not. This Bill addresses this very well by making sure there is a proper process and definition of individuals who can propose for boundary review. More importantly, there is a proper channel within which the commissions, under Part 5, the Independent County Boundaries Commission can be able to solidly deliberate on that particular process. The spirit of this Bill should also help us question such things as whether the counties we have right now are enough. I have held the view that the more devolved units we have in this country, the better off we are. I hold the view that places such as Kuria, where I come from, the Kuria District of that time and the Kuria sub-county that we have right now, given their functions at the border of the country and to our community and the population they have right now should be given a county. That does not take away from Migori County but adds to it because when Migori gets, say, Kshs12 billion and Kuria also gets Kshs12 billion, it means more resources are devolved to go to the counties."},{"id":1395445,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395445/?format=json","text_counter":301,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" When this Bill is back in the Order Papers, Sen. Oketch, you will have eight more minutes to contribute to it."},{"id":1395446,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395446/?format=json","text_counter":302,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1395447,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395447/?format=json","text_counter":303,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"ADJOURNMENT The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Hon. Senators, you may rise. It is now 6:30 p.m., time to adjourn the Senate. The Senate, therefore, stands adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, 21st March, 2024, at 2:30 p.m."},{"id":1395448,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395448/?format=json","text_counter":304,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"ADJOURNMENT The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":"The Senate rose at 6:30 p.m."},{"id":1395449,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395449/?format=json","text_counter":305,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"ADJOURNMENT The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1395450,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1395450/?format=json","text_counter":1,"type":"heading","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"PARLIAMENT OF KENYA"}]}