Tuesday, 17th September, 2013

Order, hon. Senators! We need to determine if we have a quorum.

The Clerk of the Senate (Mr. Nyegenye) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have 26 Senators in the House. We have a quorum.

Let us proceed.

Hon. Senators, I wish to make the following Communication.

I wish to bring to the attention of the Senate that pursuant to Standing Order Nos.40 (2) and (3) , the Clerk received and delivered to me, on Wednesday, 7th August, 2013, the following Message from the National Assembly regarding the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, 2013 (Senate Bill No.1 of 2013) :

THAT, the National Assembly has agreed to the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, 2013 (Senate Bill No.1 of 2013) without amendment.

Consequently, I caused the Message to be transmitted to every Senator pursuant to Standing Order No.40 (5) through letter Reference Sen/L&P/MSG2013/6 dated 7th August, 2013 as the Senate was not sitting at the time.

Hon. Senators, in accordance, therefore, with Standing Order No.40 (5) , I hereby report the above Message to the Senate.

I also wish to notify you that the Bill was assented to by His Excellency the President on Friday, 9th August, 2013 and was published in a special issue of the Kenya Gazette on 12th August, 2013. The Act came into operation on 26th August, 2013.

I thank you.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is it, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you for that Communication. I also laud His Excellency the President for signing the Bill into law. But remembering some of the kamkunjis we have had on the need for consultations between the two Speakers of Parliament and in view of the fact that we have been away for a long time, might you be having information to re-assure us that now business will be transacted in the two Houses in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution?

Thank you, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale! However, once you dispose of your matter, you resume your seat.

An hon. Senator: He forgot!

There is no point of walking to your seat as if you have just had some major undertaking.

He forgot!

There is no point of walking to your seat as if you have just had some major undertaking.

Yes, Senate Minority Leader.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Indeed, the matter being raised by the hon. Senator for Bungoma County is so serious because may be, unknown to the Senator, already the tension on the ground is such that some of the local leaders have already addressed the media and stated that this is a political matter. When this kind of death is referred to as being “political”, the senior most politicians from our community are in this Senate; Sen. Wako, Sen. Wetangula, Sen. Khaniri and myself. I am, therefore, saying that the Government must make sure that the question of “political” is not just allowed to be a statement made by an individual or individuals in passing. We would like to see all of us, the senior politicians of the area, being asked to go and record statements on this very serious matter.

I am pained because Peter Wanyonyi was my friend. At the time of his death, he was actively involved in a petition. He was representing hon. Musikari Kombo against

What is it, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale? Is the point of order related to the Statement that has been sought?

hon. Wetangula. So, to just let this matter fly like that, it can immediately set the bloc that sympathises with Sen. Wetangula against the other bloc and the situation will become worse.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like the Government to stop playing games with the issue of insecurity in Bugoma County and in Kenya in general. I refer specifically to Bungoma County because when this matter of insecurity first came up three or four months ago, none other than the Deputy President and the Inspector General visited Posta Grounds and promised the people, upon the people’s request, that they would reshuffle the senior police officers within Bungoma County because there was laxity and general unwillingness of the police to come out when called upon. These people did not come out last night the way Sen. Wetangula has said. It is shocking that even up to now, not a single police officer has been reshuffled in Bugoma County. What was the use of the rally that was called by the Deputy President and Inspector General, David Kimaiyo?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are very sad. We want to send our condolences to the family of Peter Wanyonyi. I want to call upon hon. Musikari Kombo, Sen. Wetangula and hon. Eugene Wamalwa to, within the next 72 hours, be seen together addressing our people, so that our people do not take it that we are killing each other because of our political wars. We come from a community which is called Mulembe, a community of peace. We do not kill people, leave alone our relatives.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I sympathise with the bereaved family and send my condolences. I want to assure the hon. Senators that everything will be done to respond to this issue effectively. I want to be given up Tuesday next week, so that I can give an elaborate answer.

The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula) : Can the Statement be issued on Thursday, this week?

It is not possible.

Order, hon. Senators. The Statement will be issued on Tuesday, next week.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is it, Sen. Mwakulegwa?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Energy, Roads and Transportation, we were to give a Statement today from the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the same. But when we got the Ministerial Statement, we, as a Committee, felt that we needed to make more reference to the Statement, so that it is worth presenting on the Floor of the House. So, we indulge the House to give us about three weeks. We should be able to present that Statement on 8th October, 2013.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is it, Sen. Mwakulegwa?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Energy, Roads and Transportation, we were to give a Statement today from the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the same. But when we got the Ministerial Statement, we, as a Committee, felt that we needed to make more reference to the Statement, so that it is worth presenting on the Floor of the House. So, we indulge the House to give us about three weeks. We should be able to present that Statement on 8th October, 2013.

What was the Statement about?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it was on a Petition by Joseph Kalinga of Kitui through the Senator for Kitui County regarding the Kitui-Mwingi Road.

So, we will get the Statement in three week’s time?

Could the relevant Chairpersons comment on this? Senator Mwakulegwa!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the issue of construction of Sagana- Kutus-Kerugoya-Karatina Road, we have not received the reply. Immediately we do so, we will make every effort to ensure the Statement is presented before the House this week.

Sen. Musila.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to address a very serious matter on a Statement that I requested on 14th May, 2013. I raised the matter again on 17th June, 2013, 2nd July, 2013 and 25th July, 2013. On that day, the Chairperson of the Committee on Devolved Government, Sen. Murkomen, assured the Senate that he was going to give a report of his Committee on the matter that I had raised, namely the matter of the Equalisation Fund. He promised the House, and this is on record on HANSARD, that the report would be laid on the Table of the Senate on 30th July, 2013.Thereafter, the Chairman pleaded with me that I allow him so that he uses the recess period to complete the report.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a matter that has taken a very long time. When I raised it, it was meant to pre-empt the allocation of funds before the financial year. That was on 14th May, 2013. The Committee is either unable or unwilling to undertake this task.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the issue of construction of Sagana- Kutus-Kerugoya-Karatina Road, we have not received the reply. Immediately we do so, we will make every effort to ensure the Statement is presented before the House this week.

Therefore, I am seeking the guidance of the Chair, whether this matter should be foregone. It is important that the issue of the Equilisation Fund be addressed. It is a constitutional issue and the Senate has a responsibility to ensure that those areas that are marginalized, as identified by the Commission on Revenue Allocation, benefit from the Fund. As I speak, only some 14 areas have been allocated the funds despite the fact that the same Committee identified 21 areas. Therefore, I am seeking the Chair’s guidance on this matter.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, Sir, since I am on the Floor, I want to seek your indulgence that as we were going on recess, I sought a Ministerial Statement---

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to address a very serious matter on a Statement that I requested on 14th May, 2013. I raised the matter again on 17th June, 2013, 2nd July, 2013 and 25th July, 2013. On that day, the Chairperson of the Committee on Devolved Government, Sen. Murkomen, assured the Senate that he was going to give a report of his Committee on the matter that I had raised, namely the matter of the Equalisation Fund. He promised the House, and this is on record on HANSARD, that the report would be laid on the Table of the Senate on 30th July, 2013.Thereafter, the Chairman pleaded with me that I allow him so that he uses the recess period to complete the report.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a matter that has taken a very long time. When I raised it, it was meant to pre-empt the allocation of funds before the financial year. That was on 14th May, 2013. The Committee is either unable or unwilling to undertake this task.

Dr. Kuti.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to seek a Statement from--- An hon. Senator: Has your name been called out?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. This is a brief matter. I had asked the Chairman of the Committee on Education, Information and Technology, Sen. Kagwe, to give a Statement on the issue of former students of secondary schools who finished their schooling and did their examinations, but their schools continue to withhold their certificates illegally. In accordance with Act No.29 of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) of 2012, it is illegal for anybody, principals or even the KNEC to withhold certificates of students who sit for national examinations. My friend is there, but I did not see him rise, that is why I rose on this matter.

Dr. Kuti.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to seek a Statement from--- An hon. Senator: Has your name been called out?

Sorry, I thought my name was called out.

Order! Your name was called out because I thought you were responding to Sen. Musila’s requests. Which Committee does the issue of the Equilisation Fund fall under? Is this an issue under the Committee on Devolved Government?

Yes!

Could the Vice-Chairperson respond to this issue? Sen. Kagwe, you are not the Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Devolved Government.

Sen. Wangari, as you respond, I wish to say that Sen. Musila has been on this matter for far too long. It must come to an end.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, before I respond to the issue, I, first, want to apologise to the Senator for taking a long time to respond to a matter that has been on the Floor of the House for quite some time. But we know that these Statements do not come from the Committees, they come from the Ministries. We have not received that Statement from the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. We have constantly engaged

them. I hope that we will be able to push this by the end of this week, now that we are back from recess, so that they can give us the communication that we can table here. I beg the indulgence of the House to give us this week. By Thursday afternoon, we will be able to give a way forward.

Thursday afternoon, this week?

Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

On a point of clarification, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is it, Sen. Musila? I thought you should be quite happy now.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am not happy because I feel the Committee is mistaken. The Committee ought to summon the CRA and get the facts. But what they are saying is that they want to give a Statement. I do not want a Statement, I want a report of the Committee on the sharing of the Equalisation Fund. That distinction should be made.

But Sen. Musila, you rose on the Order on Statements. So they are right to report on the same order, which is Statements. Making a Statement does not preclude a report. So, the Committee should issue the Statement but also bring a report.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is it, Sen. (Dr.) Machage?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Chairperson of the Committee on Devolved Government has made a very serious report on the unwillingness of a Ministry to reply or respond to their order. Would I be in order to request that you guide this House on how long it should be considered a waiting period and whether we have the powers, as envisaged by the Constitution, to also use the powers of the High Court on the Minister?

An hon. Senator: It is there!

I think Sen. (Dr.) Machage has already spoken for the House when he said that these committees take too long to respond. Of course, on the admission of that particular Committee, they are not getting responses from the Executive. I was just waiting to see the magnitude of that kind of problem so that we can be able to deal with it. But to respond specifically to yours, this is a Committee matter and so it is up to the Committee to come back to the House and state that it is not getting the necessary support and then we will pick it from there. They are at liberty to give any sanctions they wish. So, I think let us wait until Thursday, the Committee will come back to the House with a report and can also petition the House to take certain steps. For now, they seem to be a bit happy except for the point that maybe the rest of us are not happy. Especially since you have apologized, it means that they are not also very happy. So they are asking for indulgence for a few more days and then let us take the matter from there.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in similar format, my friend, Sen. Musila, did ask the question that he said, but that was the last day and we did say that we were going to reply this first week after resumption. I wanted to seek your indulgence to reply next week because I have been with the officers concerned and there is a specific officer who is not in the office who I need to give a proper reply.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, pardon me for interrupting earlier. I am here to seek a Statement from the Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations about the deteriorating security situation in Isiolo. We have had relative peace for the last one year or so in Isiolo which earlier on was a hot spot. We as leaders have got together and managed a very successful election by trying to share and have a very inclusive leadership. Unfortunately, a land border issue is creeping into Isiolo and I have to seek this Statement this early in order that this matter be resolved and security personnel on the ground and the national level be able to take a pre-emptive move as we, political leaders, also look for a political solution.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a developing land boundary dispute between Isiolo and Meru County at Meru North District and my colleague, Sen. Kiraitu, and I have agreed to put our heads together and go down and put leaders together and address this matter. But this morning, some members of my county were attacked. Four of them were injured, two of them critically and two women raped. This has been a brewing issue which we thought we could now rush and resolve. But now, since it has reached that level, it is an indicator of an explosive situation that I would like this Committee to take note of and to mobilize the security team as we, leaders, also get our act together so that Isiolo which has now enjoyed relative peace does not join the list of other counties that are hot spots.

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, Tuesday is fine.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we shall consult and give the feedback in three weeks’ time.

An. hon. Senator: That is too long!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, It is not too long! For him to have said that they were given 46 wells, what was reported in the media is not what was reported in the

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to seek a Statement from the Chairman of the Committee on Energy, Roads and Transportation following reports in the newspapers and the general media regarding the allocation of Kenya’s oil fields. There was a report that we have given 46 oil fields to the Nigerian delegation that was here the other day. This is an extremely serious matter particularly given that we are aware that if there is one country that has managed its oil badly, it is Nigeria. In my view, what we should be learning from Nigeria is how to get to where the oil is and how not to manage oil resources. Therefore, I seek a Statement on this matter from the Chairman of that Committee. He should clarify this issue.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we shall consult and give the feedback in three weeks’ time.

An. hon. Senator: That is too long!

Mr. Speaker, Sir, It is not too long! For him to have said that they were given 46 wells, what was reported in the media is not what was reported in the

Ministry. So we want to get it from the Ministry so that we give you the right information.

Sen. Mwazo, the Ministry is not very far from you. If they came for less than five days and they allegedly got them, you should not take a lot of time to get the same information.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we shall fast track it and possibly give the Statement next week. But having worked in Nigeria for five years, it is not as you portray them. They also do good things and that is why on a light touch, they are marrying Kenyans girls.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with all due respect to the Senator, is he in order to state that Nigerians are doing us a lot of good when we know that the cartels of drug trafficking in this country are perpetuated by Nigerians and, in fact, it forced the President to order the deportation of all foreigners but unfortunately to have them re- admitting themselves back into the country. Could he also – if he is convinced that they are doing a good job – use that opportunity to tell us what the President discussed with the Nigerians on the issue of drug trafficking? They might actually be bringing here barrels of drugs when we think that they are coming to mine gold.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, Sen. Mwazo said it with a light touch although I agree with you that this is not a place for jokes. But as a matter of speaking, maybe that is why he did it. So, let us not escalate this particular matter. He also did not say that they are doing good things to us. He said that they do some good things. The only distinction he could not make is whether those good things included mining petroleum. Nigeria is a friendly State to our nation and we are bound by our standing orders; we should not discuss those kinds of things at this particular time unless you raise a substantive Motion. I think in terms of the issues raised by Sen. Kagwe, the Chair of the Committee has promised to deliver the Statement in one week’s time.

On a point of information!

Order, Sen (Dr.) Kuti, this is---

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Order Sen. (Dr.) Kuti! That matter was concluded and secondly, you should not insist when the Chair has made it abundantly clear that that is not a matter that may be entertained. The only reason why you had a bit of liberty was because the Senate Majority Leader was trying to turn this House into a choir and I want to make it very clear that this is a House of rules; it is only the Chair who can tell you whether you are out of order or not; or who should be given information and not any other Member. So, I hope all Senators are informed.

Next Order!

THAT, concerned with the rising cases of patient mistreatment, negligence and professional malpractice by medical personnel in public and private health situations in Kenya which take the form of misdiagnosis, wrong decisions on treatment and prescription, medical or surgical errors, physical or verbal abuse, detention for inability to pay for services and alcoholism; aware of the devastating effects of such acts of commission and omission which have resulted in suffering, permanent injury or death of innocent Kenyans contrary to Articles 26, 43(1)(a) and 53(1) of the Constitution; concerned that most of those affected are the rural poor; further concerned that there are very few channels of addressing these abuses; the Senate urges the Government to establish public health complaint boards in all the forty-seven counties to address the systematic accountability issues that underlie rights violations in healthcare facilities in Kenya.

Hon. Senators, the Motion before us is as per the Order Paper. First, we have 25 minutes remaining. Secondly, there was an amendment by Sen. (Dr.) Machage which you should be debating. Just to refresh your memory, the amendment was that the Motion be amended by deleting all the words appearing between the words “urge the” and the words “in all” in the ninth and tenth lines and replacing thereof with the following words:-

“national government to establish offices of the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board”.

So, we will, maybe, take two contributors to the amendment and then we put the question to the amendment and then we dispose of the Motion.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not know how to proceed, perhaps you will guide me. But I have been talking to Sen. (Dr.) Machage about this particular amendment which was well intentioned and our aims are the same, but the Government cannot establish the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board because that Board is a statutory corporation under an Act of Parliament and it is supposed to be independent, dealing with the discipline of doctors and dentists, which is an independent profession. Therefore, I have just talked with him and I felt that the proper wording ought to be:-

“Urges the Kenya Medical, Practitioners and Dentists Board to decentralize and establish its offices in all counties in Kenya”.

This, to me, will be in accordance with the law. Before I come to the merits, I just wanted to bring that to the attention of the Senate and I talked to Sen. (Dr.) Machage and he agreed that maybe this carries out our intentions well. So, I do not know how to proceed on it. One way is to debate that one and then bring this amendment, which will take more time.

The problem is that I have not even seen your amendment.

I thought I had forwarded it to the Clerk.

The Office of the Clerk plays a different role from the Office of the Speaker. Assuming we accept your amendment, then you will have squandered the opportunity. So, let us allow one Senator to contribute while we reconcile your amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I wish to make a contribution which touches on the amendment which is in the process of being read to you. I think this is the latest amendment and I will support it when it is properly before the House.

Mr. Speaker, Sir---

Order, Senator! You are not allowed to anticipate debate; so, you deal with the matter as it is.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Let me carry on as the Motion was before; but I am also anticipating that some amendments will be done, but I will not mention it here. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as a medical practitioner, I am personally saddened by the suffering that is currently being caused by the medical practitioners to the populace of the country. I am even more saddened because of the number of cases that are arising and also the severity of some of these cases which the medical practitioners are subjecting wananchi to. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a very serious thing and we know that some of the cases are very serious. As we are today here, I would probably like to remind Senators of the very sad case that we saw in Bungoma Hospital, where a lady delivered on the floor under the watch of medical personnel and she was subjected to ridicule and abuse as she was being subjected further to negligence. I thought this was the lowest that the medical practitioners could go in this country, and I thought it is important now that a law or a system is put in place which can pick up these issues at the outset. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am saddened further because one of the bodies that did not make any response at all was the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) . It was all left to the members of the press to address the issue. It is in this light that I really think that--- The Senate Minority Leader (

Mr. Speaker, Sir, these are the very concerns that make this Motion a very important one that we should all support in this House. We should ensure that Cap.253, which establishes the KMPDB, is amended so that we can correct the situation and condition in such a manner that it is actually sensitive to what is going on. We can only do that if we bring this body closer to where the action is; and the action is usually at the counties, where most of the population stays. It is therefore important that we support this Motion which seeks to establish sectors or an arm of the KMPDB at the counties. It is in this respect that we think this body can respond faster to the suffering of the population on the ground.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do know that this negligence is not caused by lack of knowledge by the medical practitioners. I am aware of this because the manner in which medical practitioners work, there is a lot of referrals, consultation and team work that goes on and, so, knowledge is shared on the ground. It is really not the lack of knowledge that is causing this problem. Therefore, it is important that we look at the aspect of licensing of the medical practitioners such that the licensing is done in such a manner that no single medical licence is given, but a licence is given to a group or a team of doctors who practice.

With those few remarks, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to support that this Motion be passed by this House in order to devolve the functions of the KMPDB and, therefore, make them more responsive to the public on the ground.

Sen. (Dr.) Machage.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in view of the legal advice that has been presented to us by the former Attorney-General of the Republic of Kenya and humbly so accepting it, I would want to seek your indulgence that I withdraw the amendment Motion that I had moved earlier and replace it with the following---

Order! Order! Order, Sen. (Dr.) Machage! Senators! Let me guide you a bit. Sen. (Dr.) Machage is withdrawing his amendment. Once a Motion has been proposed, it is the property of the House. So, he can only withdraw it with your leave, and that is why I was stopping him there in order to determine that you have granted that leave. You can only deny him the leave by objecting to it. Since nobody has objected, I take it that the House has granted him leave to withdraw the amendment. Standing Order No.2 (1) (a) states:-

““leave of the Senate” means there being no objection by any Senator, either with the sympathy of the Speaker or with the support of at least two other Senators;”

So, we will assume that your Motion has been withdrawn with the leave of the House. This is critical so that you do not just think that it is your own Motion and, therefore, you can withdraw it at any time.

The second one is that you cannot also just move another Motion because there was an original Motion and you brought an amendment. You contributed to the original Motion by bringing the amendment, so you spoke to the amendment. Therefore, you are

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I want to inform the good Professor that, in fact, after that horrendous act at Bungoma Hospital, now the medics at the hospital have banned patients from entering the hospital with any mobile phones or electrical gadgets because a mobile phone was used to record the misconduct that brought their misdeeds to the public.

Thank you very much, Senator for Bungoma. I am sure this is quite at home with the Senator.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, these are the very concerns that make this Motion a very important one that we should all support in this House. We should ensure that Cap.253, which establishes the KMPDB, is amended so that we can correct the situation and condition in such a manner that it is actually sensitive to what is going on. We can only do that if we bring this body closer to where the action is; and the action is usually at the counties, where most of the population stays. It is therefore important that we support this Motion which seeks to establish sectors or an arm of the KMPDB at the counties. It is in this respect that we think this body can respond faster to the suffering of the population on the ground.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do know that this negligence is not caused by lack of knowledge by the medical practitioners. I am aware of this because the manner in which medical practitioners work, there is a lot of referrals, consultation and team work that goes on and, so, knowledge is shared on the ground. It is really not the lack of knowledge that is causing this problem. Therefore, it is important that we look at the aspect of licensing of the medical practitioners such that the licensing is done in such a manner that no single medical licence is given, but a licence is given to a group or a team of doctors who practice.

With those few remarks, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to support that this Motion be passed by this House in order to devolve the functions of the KMPDB and, therefore, make them more responsive to the public on the ground.

Sen. (Dr.) Machage.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in view of the legal advice that has been presented to us by the former Attorney-General of the Republic of Kenya and humbly so accepting it, I would want to seek your indulgence that I withdraw the amendment Motion that I had moved earlier and replace it with the following---

Order! Order! Order, Sen. (Dr.) Machage! Senators! Let me guide you a bit. Sen. (Dr.) Machage is withdrawing his amendment. Once a Motion has been proposed, it is the property of the House. So, he can only withdraw it with your leave, and that is why I was stopping him there in order to determine that you have granted that leave. You can only deny him the leave by objecting to it. Since nobody has objected, I take it that the House has granted him leave to withdraw the amendment. Standing Order No.2 (1) (a) states:-

““leave of the Senate” means there being no objection by any Senator, either with the sympathy of the Speaker or with the support of at least two other Senators;”

So, we will assume that your Motion has been withdrawn with the leave of the House. This is critical so that you do not just think that it is your own Motion and, therefore, you can withdraw it at any time.

The second one is that you cannot also just move another Motion because there was an original Motion and you brought an amendment. You contributed to the original Motion by bringing the amendment, so you spoke to the amendment. Therefore, you are

really now left with no opportunities. So, let your professional legal adviser, the Senator for Busia, now move the new amendment and you may be at liberty to second it. Those are our procedures and that is the way we will proceed.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support this Motion because it answers the needs or some of the problems that we have seen in this country---

Order, Sen. Wako! An hon. Senator: Move the Motion!

I hope your professional advice is not limited to Sen. (Dr.) Machage; it should apply to the House!

Okay.

You should move the Motion as proposed and then you can now say those other things.

Okay. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the following amendment: THAT, we delete from the fourth line the words “the Senate urges” up to the end and substitute it with the following words: “the Senate urges the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) to decentralize and establish its offices in all the counties of Kenya.” Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am moving this amendment because I do support the spirit of the Motion. As a practicing advocate, one of my major clients were the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) , which came to the aid of any doctor who had been either charged with professional negligence or if there had been any complaint against any doctor before the board, I would appear. So, I am aware that these problems of professional negligence particularly have been going on. But the other times I was in practice, the doctors who were appearing before these boards – the doctors against whom cases were being filed – were really the established doctors from established hospitals like the Nairobi Hospital, the Aga Khan Hospital and Kenyatta National Hospital. These were really the best established doctors and yet, even in that, we had cases of negligence. At that time, people were not very much aware of their rights; whatever the doctor had done was taken as done, with people relying on the common saying “yote ni ya Mungu.” But people have now become aware of their rights, but even more importantly, because of the increase in population, hospitals and many people seeking medical assistance, such cases have become very many and, consequently, the need to decentralize. It is in the spirit of our Constitution – and I believe it is Article 6 (3) – which encourages national organs or institutions to decentralize their activities so that the services are also available at the county level.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is in that spirit that we are now saying that with the phenomenal increase in our population and people seeking medical services; and, therefore, an increase in the number of doctors who have come up, the activities of the KMPDB should also be decentralized. The board is a statutory body established under an Act of Parliament to more or less discipline the members of the profession and, of course, key to any profession worth its name is an independent institution which disciplines its members.

I beg to move the amendment and I ask Sen. (Dr.) Machage to second.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I second the amendment to the Motion as put to us by Sen. Wako. The spirit of the Motion is not lost and Sen. Nobwola’s spirit will actually be more lifted if we make this amendment so that the whole Motion is in tandem with our established norms of practice of medicine in this country. We already have an established Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board that is ably functioning but what we need to do is give more mandate to the counties in a wide scale instead of looking at only public health complaints as put to us by Sen. Nobwola because that would only limit us to primary healthcare. We need to look at primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare.

For that reason, I second the amendment as put forward to us.

Hon. Senators, because of time, I will only take one, that is, Sen. Musila before I put the question.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to support the amendment. I believe that if this is done, the suffering of patients, particularly poor patients in the rural areas will be minimized. Patients have been suffering for too long and the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board takes too long to respond to complaints even when they are made because it is stationed here in Nairobi. I believe that if this amendment is implemented, the suffering patients in the rural areas will be very much relieved.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to point out one issue that has been going on concerning cancer patients. Cancer patients are suffering in Kenya today because their drugs have been withheld. These are some of the issues that we, as Senators, must check and ensure that the Government does not allow patients to die simply because they are waiting to collect taxes. Kshs375 million worth of drugs have been donated. The Government has paid Kshs5.6 million in revenue but the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is insisting on Kshs900,000 as inspection fee. On Friday, I met some two girls suffering from Leukemia who had run out of drugs and were expecting them from Mombasa to save their lives. Could we, as a Senate, as we pass this Motion, urge the Government also to have these drugs released so that these poor patients can live?

I said, I will only allow one before I put the question but let me allow two more: Sen. Khaniri and Sen. Tiole Ndiema.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for your indulgence. I rise to support the amendment that was moved by the Senator for Busia, Sen. Wako. Before I do that, allow me from the outset, to thank and congratulate the original Mover of this Motion, Sen. Nobwola, for bringing this important Motion. The initial intention was very good and the amendment moved by Sen. Wako just goes further to advance the good intentions that the Senator had.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in my service as a Member of Parliament, I have had a lot of experience in trying to intervene for my constituents who have gone through this kind of suffering in our public and even private hospitals. The most notorious cases that affect my people were cases where hospitals detained bodies of people who had died because of

lack of payment of bills. This is very immoral and can be very frustrating to families that are grieving. I feel that this Motion will go a long way in trying to alleviate this particular problem. The reason we support the amendment strongly is because, first, it is in the spirit of devolution. When we passed the new Constitution and adopted devolved governments, we expected that people will get services from their counties. Therefore, this Motion goes a long way in urging the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board to live up to the letter of the Constitution and ensure that the local mwananchi can access their services in their counties without coming to Nairobi to make their complaints.

Time up, Sen. Khaniri!

I support.

Sen. Tiole Ndiema, you have two minutes.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to support the Motion as amended. This Motion seeks to address the serious issues of health that our people continue to face, particularly in the rural areas.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are several areas that need to be addressed by this Board. While we are decentralizing, they also need to up their activities and report to the public. I have in mind issues of diagnosis. In many areas, there are laboratories that have sprung up which purport to give diagnosis but in most cases give wrong diagnosis, patients end up being treated for wrong ailments and by the time such mistakes are discovered, it is too late. I think something should be done.

There is also the issue of fake medicines or counterfeit medicines which have flooded the market. Every day we hear about such issues.

Senator, your time is up.

With those few remarks, I support.

Order, Senators! Therefore, I wish to put the question. Before I do so, I want to remind you that this is a Motion affecting counties.

Sometimes ago, we agreed that the vote in this House, particularly the votes that touch on counties, will preferably be done on Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, I want to request that the vote be deferred to Wednesday afternoon.

I thought the second part confirms that the Speaker shall nominate a time but you have gone ahead to propose for the Speaker. But the request has been put properly according to S.O. No.51 (3) and (2) which says that the Speaker may on the request of a Senator defer the putting of the question to the following day in which case the Speaker shall nominate a time in which the question shall be put. So, we will have it put tomorrow Wednesday.

Wednesday next week.

Order! The Speaker is on his feet but I have heard you. I will defer it to Wednesday next week anytime after 3.00 p.m. after we dispose of the preliminary orders.

Sen. Nobwola, you still have the right of reply although we have not done well with time. So, I will give you five minutes to reply just before the vote is taken.

That is for both the amendment and the Motion.

Next Order!

Order, Sen. Wako! We all have our Standing Orders, just mention and we will know. Do not read.

- THAT, aware that the county is the main focus of devolution and that there exist multi-level structures within county governments; noting the need for counties to succeed and improve the social, economic and political well being of citizens and attain optimum levels of development within the said counties; appreciating that the devolved government structure envisioned in the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides for different levels of government functions and responsibilities and that the interpretation and enforcement of these roles has been the subject of debate; concerned that there is still no county impact analysis strategy; the Senate urges the Council of Governors to take measures to require all counties to formulate, map and operationalise, with measurable indicators, key development agenda and deliverables for each term of the respective county governments.

Sometimes ago, we agreed that the vote in this House, particularly the votes that touch on counties, will preferably be done on Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, I want to request that the vote be deferred to Wednesday afternoon.

I thought the second part confirms that the Speaker shall nominate a time but you have gone ahead to propose for the Speaker. But the request has been put properly according to S.O. No.51 (3) and (2) which says that the Speaker may on the request of a Senator defer the putting of the question to the following day in which case the Speaker shall nominate a time in which the question shall be put. So, we will have it put tomorrow Wednesday.

counties which is where the focus ought to be. The Motion, as it reads, does not aim to introduce something that is completely new because

we already have the Intergovernmental Relations Act and the County Governments Act, both of which emphasize the importance of strategic planning at the county level. The only thing they have not done which I think many counties have started doing is to put their development and strategic plans into operation and to synthesise them. What has not happened is that there has not been enough emphasis in terms of what the plans should constitute. There seems to be no coordinated effort at ensuring that at the end of the day, there is a distinct programme of ensuring that certain indicators are put into place.

With regard to the objects and purposes of Article 3 of the Intergovernmental Relations Act, 2012, this provides a framework for consultation and cooperation between the national Government and the county governments. Article 8 provides a framework for the national and county governments coordinating summit which should be part and parcel of the process of ensuring that the conflicts between the national Government and county governments are eradicated. Among the forums that have been put in place is the Intergovernmental Relations Act which is key.

Paragraph (f) of the Motion talks of: “Evaluating the performance of national or county governments and recommending appropriate action”. This is key; the idea of evaluation has been put in place. However, there is no detail of how that is supposed to happen. That forum should also receive progress reports and provide advice and appropriate direction where necessary.

Paragraph (h) of the Motion talks of: Monitoring the implementation of national and county government plans and recommending appropriate action. So, the key element here is monitoring the implementation of national and county development plans. The assumption made is that these plans will come from one place or another. Vision 2030, to a large extent, has looked at profiles and the level of development agenda that might be required for specific counties. Likewise, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning has put into place various plans and strategies as they have always done like five years development plans and ten years strategic development plans. Most county governments are borrowing from the various indicators so that they can put together their own strategic plans and have a direction in terms of where they want to go as counties.

The Council of Governors has also been concerned about the whole idea of performance at county level and enhancing this. One of the responsibilities of this organ is to receive reports and monitor the implementation of inter-county agreements and inter-county projects. The council shall submit an annual report to the Senate and to the National Assembly. This is very key. We will expect reports from the Council of Governors in terms of the progress that has been made by counties. Those reports will come for the Senate, the National Assembly and the county assemblies.

What method of evaluation will we use to see whether counties have really developed? Where are the baseline plans, for example? Where are the baseline studies that have been done for each of those counties so that as we receive the reports, we have a basis of evaluating whether the plans have been effective or not? The worry is that after five years of so much work, but without focus on the counties, they will lose the development agenda. We need to come up with a clear agenda, theoretical and practical

Order! The Speaker is on his feet but I have heard you. I will defer it to Wednesday next week anytime after 3.00 p.m. after we dispose of the preliminary orders.

Sen. Nobwola, you still have the right of reply although we have not done well with time. So, I will give you five minutes to reply just before the vote is taken.

That is for both the amendment and the Motion.

Next Order!

- THAT, aware that the county is the main focus of devolution and that there exist multi-level structures within county governments; noting the need for counties to succeed and improve the social, economic and political well being of citizens and attain optimum levels of development within the said counties; appreciating that the devolved government structure envisioned in the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides for different levels of government functions and responsibilities and that the interpretation and enforcement of these roles has been the subject of debate; concerned that there is still no county impact analysis strategy; the Senate urges the Council of Governors to take measures to require all counties to formulate, map and operationalise, with measurable indicators, key development agenda and deliverables for each term of the respective county governments.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Motion is about trying to create order in the counties and really keeping the eye on the prize to show that the output and the outcomes for specific counties are very clear. The Motion, therefore, suggests that there should be a model of impact analysis that is very definite, with specific indicators and measurable outputs so that at the end of the day, a county might be able to see that devolution has actually worked. Devolution has been very attractive to Kenyans because there is a sense in which development will reach the grassroots. In the next five years, for whatever reason, if the impact of that devolution has not been felt, then people will move away from believing in the process and in the promise of devolution. Therefore, it is very critical that immediate indicators and a clear roadmap are put into operation to ensure that devolution works.

Article 174, Chapter 11 upon which devolution is hinged says: “The objects of the devolution of government are—

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to second this Motion. As we resume after recess, this Motion brings into focus what we have just been hearing and reading about in the newspapers in the course of July and August with regard to the implementation of devolution. Now, counties are working on the integrated plans and strategies.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Mover of this Motion has reminded us here that the devolution focus is supposed to see how the social and political status of our people can improve. You cannot address these issues without proper plans and funding as well. When we talk about key development agendas that are supposed to be tabled and listed by all the counties in Kenya, there are some that can be done by the counties and supported by the national Government. For example, if we want to attract any investor to come to any county, there must be a good road network, which our Constitution stipulates in the Fourth Schedule. It is no longer the function of the national Government.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if an investor has to come, we must have a reliable source of power. This is what they are supposed to deal with now, but how can they do it if they do not have funding, which has been devolved in the Fourth Schedule? There are so many deliverables that can be done, only if certain key things, for example, water and agriculture have been given out. There are investors who are going to come. First, we must avail some infrastructure, as counties or national Government.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in seconding this Motion, I am also asking myself whether we have given the counties the monies that were meant essentially for these key development agendas to take place. But how can you come up with a strategic or integrated plan without money? I have come from my county where we have some parallel investments and plans for constituencies; where the Governor is not in control, yet they are supposed to come up with one strategy for the entire county. This Motion calls upon this House; that we need to rein in what type of developments we are supposed to engage in. The focal point is the county for all of them. So, there should be no competition of any kind. There should be organized and systematic plans being done by the counties to benefit everybody. For example, for us to move from one county to the next, there will be need for counties to do joint strategies. For example, my neighbouring county called Turkana, does not have sufficient land, although I am told that they have just discovered the biggest collection of water which they can use for irrigation. But as at now, most of their food comes from West Pokot, Trans Nzoia and other counties. Indeed, then, these formulations of development plans need to be inclusive and the county governments need to sit together. I know that in the first two years, there might be some kind of teething problems, but this House can still put things in order by passing this Motion and asking the people that are concerned to work together and come up with the measures that are required for counties to move.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in line with Vision 2030 which is almost 17 years from now, we should be moving from a third world country to a middle income generating country, where people can have good health and life. But how can that happen if devolution is not anchored properly in the counties? In fact, the Vision 2030 Secretariat in Nairobi needs to be now simplified into 47 versions, so that every county has a unit, working together with the governor and county governments, to see to it that these key development agendas that are being done are driving Kenya towards the goal of Vision 2030.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to second this Motion.

advertisements in the newspapers calling for participation and for people to attend their various meetings so that they begin to input in the process. By law, this should guide the county budgeting, project funding, monitoring and evaluation so that there is clarity.

Depending on the county and the expertise they can accrue within the county, different strategic plans or CIDPs will come up as a result. Those who can engage consultants who are good in areas of planning will come up with clear indicators and will, therefore, have objective plans that are measurable and which they can hold themselves accountable to. That is the key thing. Counties should hold themselves accountable to their plans and find a mechanism of making their plans public not only to members of the counties but also to members of the whole Republic. At the end of the five years, we should use this as the basis for evaluation for specific counties vis-a-vis the challenges and difficulties. This will allow us to see to what extent they have achieved the key objectives they had set for themselves.

Citizen participation is critical to devolution. Citizens will not engage if these county plans have not been made visible. We will discuss this as the Senate but one of the ways is to lay out the final integrated plan, put it in the newspaper or put it on the internet so that people can hold counties accountable. With all that is happening and all the amount of money that has gone into counties with fears of misusing the funds and corruption in the counties, if we focus on the negatives, we will lose sight of all the positives that are meant to help counties to develop.

If this is put into operation, if it is fully explained and initialized in every county, we will be emphasizing it now rather than later. We cannot wait for five years and then come up to say that these are the indicators that we should have used or what should have been done. That will already be lost time. So, this is the time now that all the indicators have to be clearly explained. Experts have to talk about the measurability standards and agree about them so that when it comes to formulating the plans, we are clear about what is happening.

We get interested in this because as the Senate, according to Article 98, we represent the counties and protect the interests of those counties. If counties are successful, that is something that is directly related to us. How will we, as a Senate, evaluate the various reports and the targets that have been set if the indicators that have been set are not clearly stipulated? The Motion reads that this responsibility has already been given to the Council of Governors. The mechanism is that they will come up with specific reports. However, the Senate needs to have an interest in what the Council of Governors is coming up with so that it can control and measure the final product within particular counties so that they monitor and see whether the benchmarking has been adhered to. Various counties are working on that.

County plans will consist of various issues like medium term plans, priorities for county governors, specific goals and objectives, implementation plans, provisions of monitoring and evaluation within each of those specific counties.

The County Governments Act, again, Article 106(4) provides for citizen participation and I added that. It also goes on to say how the citizen participation can be enhanced through county budgets and economic forums, through county citizen engagement frameworks, county communication platform strategies and county civic

education strategies that are very key for that process. This is not an easy process. It is very involving. It involves trying as much as possible to engage the right people at the right time, in the right mood in the right mode so that they can bring to the fore their knowledge. This includes the involvement of our sister county governments, for instance, the County Government of Mombasa will not have concluded its strategic plan without input from Kwale and Kilifi counties. These are the sister counties.

The whole idea of bringing in stakeholders and having consultative workshops and bringing in professionals who can put everything into perspective and going through thorough situation analysis, for example, where the county is, what its merits and demerits are; looking at its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis; and, how they can be applied within a specific county, is very crucial. But more important and for the purposes of this Motion, they will ensure that the objectives and output are SMART. Whatever is seen as output should actually be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART). I think without being tough, putting adequate standards and being very specific about what is expected, we are just going to have outputs and development plans that are not really tying the loose ends and enabling us to measure the final output.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, most of our plans also have aspects of monitoring and evaluation, but this is something that is also variant. So, having a way of really being open and frank about the monitoring and evaluation framework that is put into operation is very, very key. Various players have begun to already get interested in this. I mentioned the Kenya county fact sheets from the Commission on Revenue Allocation, which was put out in June, 2013. There is some more work that has come up from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and KARA, trying to engage counties in terms of coming up with stringent and very clear development plans.

Some of the indicators from the county files include health and education outcomes; how many people are fully immunized within the population, malaria burden, tuberculosis cases, for example, within 1,000 years; HIV prevalence et cetera, as key or important indicators. But they must be broadened to be very specific and include everything that a county must include. So, if we look at what is coming from the specific counties, we need to be able, again, to make sure that it is not very generalized. If it is about development, improvement, putting out staff houses and taking a certain number of children to school, let it be very specific, so that it is not general. At the end of the day, it is possible for people to come up and feel that the objects of the county have been attained and the level of practical engagement for the development and measurability within the counties has been enhanced. People can actually come and look at the product and evaluate what that product is all about.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those comments, I beg to move and call upon Prof. Lonyangapuo to second the Motion.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to second this Motion. As we resume after recess, this Motion brings into focus what we have just been hearing and reading about in the newspapers in the course of July and August with regard to the implementation of devolution. Now, counties are working on the integrated plans and strategies.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Mover of this Motion has reminded us here that the devolution focus is supposed to see how the social and political status of our people can improve. You cannot address these issues without proper plans and funding as well. When we talk about key development agendas that are supposed to be tabled and listed by all the counties in Kenya, there are some that can be done by the counties and supported by the national Government. For example, if we want to attract any investor to come to any county, there must be a good road network, which our Constitution stipulates in the Fourth Schedule. It is no longer the function of the national Government.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if an investor has to come, we must have a reliable source of power. This is what they are supposed to deal with now, but how can they do it if they do not have funding, which has been devolved in the Fourth Schedule? There are so many deliverables that can be done, only if certain key things, for example, water and agriculture have been given out. There are investors who are going to come. First, we must avail some infrastructure, as counties or national Government.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in seconding this Motion, I am also asking myself whether we have given the counties the monies that were meant essentially for these key development agendas to take place. But how can you come up with a strategic or integrated plan without money? I have come from my county where we have some parallel investments and plans for constituencies; where the Governor is not in control, yet they are supposed to come up with one strategy for the entire county. This Motion calls upon this House; that we need to rein in what type of developments we are supposed to engage in. The focal point is the county for all of them. So, there should be no competition of any kind. There should be organized and systematic plans being done by the counties to benefit everybody. For example, for us to move from one county to the next, there will be need for counties to do joint strategies. For example, my neighbouring county called Turkana, does not have sufficient land, although I am told that they have just discovered the biggest collection of water which they can use for irrigation. But as at now, most of their food comes from West Pokot, Trans Nzoia and other counties. Indeed, then, these formulations of development plans need to be inclusive and the county governments need to sit together. I know that in the first two years, there might be some kind of teething problems, but this House can still put things in order by passing this Motion and asking the people that are concerned to work together and come up with the measures that are required for counties to move.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in line with Vision 2030 which is almost 17 years from now, we should be moving from a third world country to a middle income generating country, where people can have good health and life. But how can that happen if devolution is not anchored properly in the counties? In fact, the Vision 2030 Secretariat in Nairobi needs to be now simplified into 47 versions, so that every county has a unit, working together with the governor and county governments, to see to it that these key development agendas that are being done are driving Kenya towards the goal of Vision 2030.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to second this Motion.

Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Sen. (Dr.) Zani for bringing this important Motion to this distinguished House. From the onset, let me say that it is very easy to rubbish this Motion because you may think that it is not tangible. Just as the speakers who have spoken before me, it is important to notice and to think about the phrase that has been said for a very long time, that when we fail to plan, we are definitely planning to fail. It is important that our governors, the executive committees, Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) and everyone who has been given authority at the county level does their part to make those counties work. They should critically think about planning and setting the foundation for the growth of our counties.

Let me also state from the onset that as stated in the Motion, we need to have clear deliverables for each term of the respective county governments. After four years and a few months from now, each county will be put on a weighing scale. We will be looking at which counties really delivered for the people. As Sen. (Dr.) Zani said when she was moving this Motion, Kenyans have so much hope in the county governments. I think that is why they overwhelmingly supported the Constitution in 2010, so that they can see services get down to them. I must state that there will be no excuse even for the counties that have for a very long time been termed marginalized or minorities. They now have a chance to redeem themselves. If the governors at the county level and even we,

Bw. Spika, nataka kukushukuru sana kwa fursa hii na pia kumshukuru Sen. (Dr.) Zani kwa kuleta Hoja hii. Mimi nimesimama hapa kuiunga mkono Hoja hii kwa sababu hili ni jambo nyeti sana katika mpangilio wetu wa kaunti. Tangu Serikali ianzishe sera mpya ya utawala wenye ngazi mbili, Wakenya wamekuwa na matarajio mengi sana. Wengi wameamini kwamba ugatuzi ni sera ambayo italeta afueni katika maisha yao. Sisi kutoka pwani, tuliamini kwamba tutaleta ugatuzi wa

kiuchumi na kisiasa ili watu wetu waweze kupata manufaa. Hii ndio njia mwafaka ya kuwezesha maeneo mbalimbali ya pwani na nchi nzima kwa jumla kuwa na mipangilio kabambe ya kimaendeleo.

umaarufu kwa sababu, kwa mfano, jengo la White House na Capitol Hill zilijengwa kwa mipangilio ya kudumu zaidi ya miaka 100. Hapa kwetu, tumeiba nyumba za wakuu wa Serikali, viwanja vya ndege, vioo na kadhalika. Hata ile mipango iliokuweko hapo awali yote imesambaratika kwa sababu ya wizi na ufisadi. Kwa hivyo, tutaanza upya na maendeleo yatafanywa kwa ratiba fulani ya kifuata mipangilio fulani. Waswahili husema kwamba, ukiona vyaelea, jua vimeundwa. Wale wenzetu wa mataifa ya kimagharibi hawakuamuka siku moja na kupata maendeleo. Walijitolea mhanga na wakajenga taasisi zao. Baadhi yenu mkizuru nchi hizo mnapigwa na butwaa kuona mijengo ya kifahari. Mara nyingi sisi hupiga mijengo hiyo picha ilhali hapa Kenya, hupigi picha mijengo yoyote kwa sababu hakuna jambo la kuridhisha. Wenzetu wameendelea kwa sababu babu wao walikuwa na mipango.

Sisi siku moja tutaitwa waanzilishi wa Kenya mpya. Leo mimi ni kijana, lakini sitakuwa kijana maishani yangu yote. Na siku moja tutakufa na tutataka historia yetu iandikwe kama watu tuliochangia Kenya mpya. Ikiwa tunataka kuwa na historia nzuri juu ya maisha yetu, ni lazima tuwe na mipango maalum ya kutekeleza maendeleo yetu. Kila mara tunawanakili wenzetu kama vile George Washingtone na J.F. Kennedy, ilhali hatusemi ni nini wenzetu hapa nyumbani walifanya. Hayo ndio masuala ambayo ni lazima tuweke. Hawa magavana ni magavana wa kwanza katika majimbo yao ya ugatuzi. Ikiwa wanataka kukumbukwa, ni lazima waweke mipango kabambe.

Bi Spika wa Muda, sera hii ni ya kuhimiza kila mtu aweze kukaa chini na kuandika mipangilio ya kimaendeleo. Jambo hili ni la lazima. Sisi tunawahimiza, na mimi nina imani kwamba wale watakaofuata mwongozo huu, watapata ufanisi na watakumbukwa katika historia ya Kenya.

Kwa hayo machache, ninamshukuru sana Sen. (Dr.) Zani kwa kuleta Hoja hii. Ninaomba kuunga mkono.

Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Sen. (Dr.) Zani for bringing this important Motion to this distinguished House. From the onset, let me say that it is very easy to rubbish this Motion because you may think that it is not tangible. Just as the speakers who have spoken before me, it is important to notice and to think about the phrase that has been said for a very long time, that when we fail to plan, we are definitely planning to fail. It is important that our governors, the executive committees, Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) and everyone who has been given authority at the county level does their part to make those counties work. They should critically think about planning and setting the foundation for the growth of our counties.

Let me also state from the onset that as stated in the Motion, we need to have clear deliverables for each term of the respective county governments. After four years and a few months from now, each county will be put on a weighing scale. We will be looking at which counties really delivered for the people. As Sen. (Dr.) Zani said when she was moving this Motion, Kenyans have so much hope in the county governments. I think that is why they overwhelmingly supported the Constitution in 2010, so that they can see services get down to them. I must state that there will be no excuse even for the counties that have for a very long time been termed marginalized or minorities. They now have a chance to redeem themselves. If the governors at the county level and even we,

make use of the huge water resources that have been found in Turkana? How do we harmonize the use of the coal deposits and the new mineral finds in the country, so that, at the end of the day, all these resources that are looking so good for the country, become a translation into national and county growth?

Madam Temporary Speaker, in another ten years, there are some counties that will be a lot richer than others. Although we do not expressly say so in the Constitution, or in any law, I do not envisage any difficulty, in another ten years, with one county borrowing money from another county instead of going out there to borrow money from China, India, the United Kingdom and wherever else and bloating our national debt in the process. If the county of Kwale, with all its newfound wealth, has surplus resources, they can lend that money to other counties. That way, we will save on foreign exchange. We will also avoid bloating the national external debt and we will still be developing in the same manner as we would if we borrowed these resources externally.

This will ensure that the counties, in their plans and programming, can be interdependent and co-ordinated in a manner that will help this country grow to the extent that we do not want to see huge population movements like the amount of inflows into Nairobi. Why is Nairobi so attractive? Nairobi has remained the hub and centre of everything. That is why we have devolved. The population of Nairobi is now unsustainable. Do we move into Nairobi to lead good lives? No! There are many more villagers living in Nairobi than even in the villages. People come from the villages with a hope, and rightly so, that they are moving to where they will find a better life. But they come to Nairobi, and you find out that the people are cramped up in slums. Why? Because we have not created conducive opportunities for them to remain in the countryside, enjoy clean air, a tranquil environment and have some work to do.

If you look at the development plans of this country, for example, the evolution of setting up sugar factories in the western belt in 1960s was to arrest movement of populations to Nairobi. The plan was to have a sugar factory in Muhoroni, Miwani, Sony, Nzoia and in Chemelil so that we could create wealth, jobs and arrest urban migration. But because of the mismanagement of these public investments, even the setting up of Thika as the Birmingham of Kenya did not seem to have worked. If you go to Thika now, there is a slum called Kiandutu, which is so huge and deprived in terms of facilities that you regret why people would move into this place, but you cannot blame them. Everybody lives with some hope that the grass is greener across the fence. However, when you cross the fence, you find that it is not any greener than where you left. People find it difficult to go back to the villages because they have to walk the whole day every day, every week, every month and every year looking for non-existent jobs. We hope that these integrated plans will not just be about small things like building roads, schools and maintaining hospitals, but we want mega plans of industrialization.

Madam Temporary Speaker, why would maize produced in Trans Nzoia, for example, be transported to Nairobi, milled into flour, packaged and then taken back there to be sold to people? We should have a mega industrial set up there where they produce, add value and then take the finished product to the market. In doing so, we shall have programmes that will make every county do their best. For example, we have a huge potential of production of cement in Pokot. We have been hearing this for a long time.

Studies have been carried out and so on. Pokot people should now sit down and make this as their niche in the economy of this country. They will not produce cement for Pokot County only, but they will produce cement for the whole country. That cement will be used in development of other parts of the country. Pokot will become richer. Much sooner, they will lend money to Laikipia County or Bungoma County. This is what I believe the Mover of this Motion intends to enlighten the country and counties on.

Madam Temporary Speaker, as I conclude, I want to propose that when these good Motions are passed and we move them to the next level, this Senate is obligated both in law and, in fact, to call upon the governors to move in this direction. That is how we expect them to work together to give meaning to this very wonderful ideas that are emanating from the Senate. I am very proud that our Senators are being ingenious, forward looking and positive in their generation of ideas that will help and entrench devolution. With this kind of developments, even those who are showing reluctance and indifference to devolution will soon realise that devolution is here to stay and that the people of Kenya want devolution. They will embrace devolution and see it as the only answer to exclusion, marginalisation and the fact that many parts of this country have been ignored for a long time. For example, Pokot County was a closed district. The Government would just close up Pokot, move in and beat up people for two months for no reason, in the name of fighting crime, then open it up again. Now with devolution, nobody can do that, because they have a government of their own and they can legislate on how to manage their issues.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Sen. Mungai, Nakuru County.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to support the Motion by Sen. (Dr.) Zani. This is a very important Motion because it is going to put governors on their toes in the way that they are going to plan what is happening in the counties. It is worrying that up to this moment people on the ground are still hoping to see something tangible happening, but very little seems to be happening. When we talk about County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) , yes, they are being carried out in various counties, but unfortunately, the level of involvement and the thoroughness that is required is lacking. It is very unfortunate because I am yet to come across a Senator who has been involved in the CIDPs formulation.

In Nakuru County, for example, public participation in the development of the CIDP was quite minimal because only two hours were given to each constituency. It is very difficult for anything to be deliberated within two hours. When we talk about the CIDPs, the period that is being taken into consideration is very paramount. What is happening with CIDPs in various counties is that they are being done in a haphazard way. There is money that is being used and which does not get the desired results. This means that they will end up having CIDPs that are not workable.

Madam Temporary Speaker, our counties can perform very well because the devolution that was envisaged in our Constitution is here now. I have had opportunity to go out of this country and it has been very worrying because sometimes when you come back you ask yourself many questions. For example, one might ask; what is actually wrong? When we talk about the challenges that we are likely to have, for example, the

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I also want to congratulate Sen. (Dr.) Zani for bringing this very important Motion. The Motion is good. The Committee on Finance, Commerce and Economic Affairs that I serve has gone around a few counties. Some of these things are being done, although at a preliminary level. We are setting up integrated planning to have county development programmes synchronized. But the Motion is important to the extent that it is obligating every county to do exactly the same. More importantly, that every county must have a clearly formulated, mapped out and operationalized strategy for development. Madam Temporary Speaker, I can very well remember – and my good friend, Sen. G.G. Kariuki, would, perhaps, be the best to remember this – that in 1965, the late Tom Mboya moved the first Sessional Paper in this country that gave the country a direction of development. That Sessional Paper was picked up by Malaysia. It has replicated it every five years with modifications. You can see where Malaysia is today. In Kenya, we abandoned it and we took a wrong turn. That is why we are where we are. I am sure that when the late Tom Mboya moved it, my good friend, Sen. G.G. Kariuki was in the House at that time. Madam Temporary Speaker, we must plan, and plan properly. There is no “one size fits all” in development structures. This is why I agree with the two Senators who have spoken – yourself and the nominated Senator, Sen. Lesuuda. We are seeing a very worrying trend. Every governor or every county is struggling to do something without reflecting on whether it fits well in the cog of the national wheel. For example, it is the philosophy and policy of the Government to have a national power grid. Where we have

a shortfall, we have a master plan for East Africa for integration of our power grids. Where we have a shortfall, there is even a bigger plan to hook on to the integration with the Central and Southern African power pools. But today, we are hearing of each governor talking about setting up a power plant and generating power. I do not know if they are consulting with the master plan of the country to see whether if you generate, for example, power in your county and the consumption in your county is just about 15 megawatts---.

make use of the huge water resources that have been found in Turkana? How do we harmonize the use of the coal deposits and the new mineral finds in the country, so that, at the end of the day, all these resources that are looking so good for the country, become a translation into national and county growth?

Madam Temporary Speaker, in another ten years, there are some counties that will be a lot richer than others. Although we do not expressly say so in the Constitution, or in any law, I do not envisage any difficulty, in another ten years, with one county borrowing money from another county instead of going out there to borrow money from China, India, the United Kingdom and wherever else and bloating our national debt in the process. If the county of Kwale, with all its newfound wealth, has surplus resources, they can lend that money to other counties. That way, we will save on foreign exchange. We will also avoid bloating the national external debt and we will still be developing in the same manner as we would if we borrowed these resources externally.

This will ensure that the counties, in their plans and programming, can be interdependent and co-ordinated in a manner that will help this country grow to the extent that we do not want to see huge population movements like the amount of inflows into Nairobi. Why is Nairobi so attractive? Nairobi has remained the hub and centre of everything. That is why we have devolved. The population of Nairobi is now unsustainable. Do we move into Nairobi to lead good lives? No! There are many more villagers living in Nairobi than even in the villages. People come from the villages with a hope, and rightly so, that they are moving to where they will find a better life. But they come to Nairobi, and you find out that the people are cramped up in slums. Why? Because we have not created conducive opportunities for them to remain in the countryside, enjoy clean air, a tranquil environment and have some work to do.

If you look at the development plans of this country, for example, the evolution of setting up sugar factories in the western belt in 1960s was to arrest movement of populations to Nairobi. The plan was to have a sugar factory in Muhoroni, Miwani, Sony, Nzoia and in Chemelil so that we could create wealth, jobs and arrest urban migration. But because of the mismanagement of these public investments, even the setting up of Thika as the Birmingham of Kenya did not seem to have worked. If you go to Thika now, there is a slum called Kiandutu, which is so huge and deprived in terms of facilities that you regret why people would move into this place, but you cannot blame them. Everybody lives with some hope that the grass is greener across the fence. However, when you cross the fence, you find that it is not any greener than where you left. People find it difficult to go back to the villages because they have to walk the whole day every day, every week, every month and every year looking for non-existent jobs. We hope that these integrated plans will not just be about small things like building roads, schools and maintaining hospitals, but we want mega plans of industrialization.

Madam Temporary Speaker, why would maize produced in Trans Nzoia, for example, be transported to Nairobi, milled into flour, packaged and then taken back there to be sold to people? We should have a mega industrial set up there where they produce, add value and then take the finished product to the market. In doing so, we shall have programmes that will make every county do their best. For example, we have a huge potential of production of cement in Pokot. We have been hearing this for a long time.

Studies have been carried out and so on. Pokot people should now sit down and make this as their niche in the economy of this country. They will not produce cement for Pokot County only, but they will produce cement for the whole country. That cement will be used in development of other parts of the country. Pokot will become richer. Much sooner, they will lend money to Laikipia County or Bungoma County. This is what I believe the Mover of this Motion intends to enlighten the country and counties on.

Madam Temporary Speaker, as I conclude, I want to propose that when these good Motions are passed and we move them to the next level, this Senate is obligated both in law and, in fact, to call upon the governors to move in this direction. That is how we expect them to work together to give meaning to this very wonderful ideas that are emanating from the Senate. I am very proud that our Senators are being ingenious, forward looking and positive in their generation of ideas that will help and entrench devolution. With this kind of developments, even those who are showing reluctance and indifference to devolution will soon realise that devolution is here to stay and that the people of Kenya want devolution. They will embrace devolution and see it as the only answer to exclusion, marginalisation and the fact that many parts of this country have been ignored for a long time. For example, Pokot County was a closed district. The Government would just close up Pokot, move in and beat up people for two months for no reason, in the name of fighting crime, then open it up again. Now with devolution, nobody can do that, because they have a government of their own and they can legislate on how to manage their issues.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

another one reads; done by “CDF” which brings a lot of tension in the constituency or county with regard to the owner of the project.

Lastly, as I support, the plans will help the public to feel as if the tax they are paying is coming back to them and services are being offered in a way that can be seen. It is important for people to get good services.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I wish to congratulate the Mover of this Motion, Sen. (Dr.) Zani. The Motion is well thought out. As a leader or as a governor, you must know where you are coming from and where you are going. I worked for a private organization. Immediately you entered that office, you were expected to do a “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats” (SWOT) analysis. You had to look at your strengths, weaknesses and threats for you to formulate your plan. Now that we are in the era of devolution, there is public participation. We have people out there, the citizens who voted for the Constitution, who expect a lot from us.

Governors must deliver. How will they deliver if they do not have plans in place? We have Vision 2030. When governors plan, they should capture what the national Government has in place for them in the counties within Vision 2030.

When you plan, as a county, you should also look at your strengths. For example, in Trans Nzoia County, I would look at the strengths as the food basket of the country because it produces a lot of maize. When you are planning, that should be one of the major items that you should capture in your plans. As Sen. Moses Wetangula said, we produce a lot of maize which finds its way outside the county. It is milled and then sold back to the county very expensively. How do we protect that? The governor needs to sit down with county assembly members because they have to approve part of those plans and protect their economy.

Where there is a weakness, for instance, in counties like Turkana which buy their foodstuffs from outside, you need to find out how you will feed your people in the next five years. We should have a shift towards things like industrialization because they provide value addition. They also offer jobs and raise revenue. Counties that have weaknesses should look at such opportunities because these will create jobs for people in places like Turkana County since they cannot grow crops like maize.

Pastoralists keep animals, but during the dry spell, they lose their animals, which is a big loss. Some of these animals cannot be insured or, probably, insurance companies are not ready to insure them. Development plans are very important. We would like to know where we will be in the next five years. When you start off in the first year, you may suggest putting up, for instance, a plant to manufacture cooking fat.

In my county, we grow soya beans and sunflowers. Those two components can be used to manufacture cooking fat. However, with regard to planning, in the first year, we may not achieve this. That means that we should stagger the project in the first year, second year, and third year up to the fifth year. At the end of the five years, that is when governors and Senators will be judged. We are supposed to oversight governors. We are supposed to oversight them so that as they plan, they know what we are also planning, our strengths and weaknesses.

I also know that in Trans Nzoia, one of our weaknesses is lack of jobs. Our youth are idle. When the governor is planning, he needs to see how to engage the youth so that

they are busy. The Jua Kali sector should also be looked into because, at the end of five years, when we will be campaigning, we should tell people what we did. For example, we should say that we built Konza City or any other project. However, if we will not have done anything, it will be very difficult to come back after the 2017 elections.

The Mover of the Motion has asked the Council of Governors to take measures to require all counties to formulate their plans and operationalize them, with measurable indicators. She said so because when you plan, you should know whether the plans are going well. The plans need to be reviewed from time to time. We have made visits to counties and most revenues are dropping. We would like to know why they were collecting more money before these areas became counties. After elections, the revenue of some counties like Bungoma is going down. Governors need to get concerned and know what is happening. We were being given an example of someone who collected council revenue of Kshs1 million and banked it in their own account. I think he has been arrested and is being investigated. If the county had planned for this revenue, immediately there was an indicator that things were not well, they would have arrested the situation before losing a lot of money.

It is, therefore, important for the Council of Governors to get together with other governors so that they harmonise the development plans which some have prepared. Some have not; maybe, they need assistant because they lack the expertise. Such counties should receive the necessary assistance. These plans should be put in place. Once in a while, they need to sit and share and see which counties are not performing well so that they are assisted. We have been told that a few counties have not taken off and do not have their plans in place. These counties need assistance so that they are on board with the rest. We want to grow with all the 47 counties. We do not want to leave out any county. We, as Senators, have a duty to provide that assistance and capacity.

As a Senator in a region, if your county is not doing well, then you need to get involved and involve some Committees like the Committee on Devolution and the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Economic Affairs so that we assist the county.

I support this Motion because I think it will go a long way in helping our counties to grow.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to thank the Mover of this Motion. She did a good job. The spirit of this Motion is alive. It is not too late to suggest that we come up with this kind of Motions. When I looked at this Motion, from the word go, although I liked the spirit and wishes of the Mover, I still thought that we needed to go beyond the Motion. After amending it, my interest and proposal is to bring an amendment to the main Act. That is after we have done what we are doing now.

I would like to propose an amendment which will start preparing the county governments for bad days to come. We must have a statutory law to enable us direct county governments to do what they are supposed to do.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in the meantime, I would like to move an amendment which states as follows:-

THAT, the Motion be amended by deleting all the words appearing immediately after the word “Senate” in the eighth line and inserting in place thereof the following words; “direct county governments to take

measures to require all counties to formulate, map and operationalize, with measureable indicators, key development agenda and deliverables for each term of the respective county governments and submit an annual progress report to the Senate.” Madam Temporary Speaker, this amendment will add some value to the main Motion, because the county governments will now understand that we are not going to leave this matter to the county governors’ council. I am not familiar with the law, so far, and do not know whether they are capable of requiring or directing the county governments to do certain things. This is because the county government is independent and can only co-operate with the central Government. But I do not think that the county governors’ council would have any facilities to enforce the requirements of this Senate. Since the county governments are the agents of devolution, we need to deal with them directly. This is because there is no way you can separate the Senate from the county governments. The roles of the Senate and county governments are very clear in our Constitution and you cannot, therefore, separate the two. We are here to protect the interests of the county governments and they have to do what we require them to do.

I think that it has to be very clear in everybody’s mind that the Senate is here to direct and manage the county governments. In fact, if they fail, it is this Senate which should be held responsible. In the Constitution, we are mandated to do quite a number of things. Even when there was some hostility between the Lower House and the Upper House and the governors’ council came in also, there was a problem in determining who should decide what. But the Senate was quietly being blamed to have allowed that situation to happen. Whether we like it or not, we have to agree that this Senate is in charge of devolution and our agent is the county governments.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I think that it is very clear in our minds what we want to do here. I think that the Senator here will agree with me that the time is ripe to start coming up with Motions and laws to manage and direct the county governments. For example, the county governments have now decided just to copy what the national Government is doing. You will find that there are people called ministers and yet, there is nothing like that in the Constitution. These are executive committee members of the county governments, but they call themselves ministers. So, I think that time has come when we should stop playing politics just to please the county governors. I think that quite a number of us came through public support, maybe in collaboration with some Senators and governors and, therefore, we do not want to appear as if we are disagreeing. This House has to be seen as being independent and able to deal with the county governments’ requirements. In fact, we have to work for the county governments more than anything else, because this House was created as a result of the Kenyan people wishing to see the devolved government. The devolved government will not be enforced by any other people, except the Senate.

Madam Temporary Speaker, this is our time now. Let us now be clear in our minds. I appeal to the Senators who are here to get involved in the development of counties, so that after four years, we shall say that the Senate has managed devolution because it has done A,B, C and D. But if we try to play the game of pleasing the governors and county assemblies, we will be wrong. This is because these new people are

ready to get ideas. If I can speak for Laikipia County, we work together. There is no need for us to have any problems. But if we are not careful, there will be devolution, but we will also devolve corruption all over Kenya. We have failed in this country because our priority has just been to make money. If you do not have money, you are nothing. If you are not driving a big Mercedes, you are bure and your mind does not function. That is the mentality of Kenyan people. I think it is time that we changed this mentality and gave Kenyans a leadership which is going to be for those who have elected us. They have elected us and we are their servants.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I need to stop there and ask my friend over there, Hargura, to come and---

Who is your “friend over there?” That is Sen. Hargura. Address him appropriately!

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. First, I would like to thank the Mover of the Motion because this is one of the basic requirements for planning.

Madam Temporary Speaker, also, I stand to second the Mover of the amendment to the Motion, because I think that it just makes the Motion clear. This is because we are directing it at the recognized entity, which is the county government, instead of the council of governors. Also, we are requiring them to be reporting, at least, to the Senate, so that we can have that connection.

Madam Temporary Speaker, as we know, the Constitution requires us to protect the county governments. One way of doing that is to make sure that they are on the right track. That will require them to have proper plans. We are discussing this knowing very well that, currently, the counties are doing their county integrated development plans. But what we are doing is to have it improved further, so that it has measurable indicators which can guide us along the way. When they are submitting their progress reports to us, we can check against their development plans and determine whether they are on the right track or not. I think that, that is why it is necessary to amend this Motion; to have that aspect that it has to be the county government which is being directed to do it. They have to report to us annually, so that we can make sure that they are on the right track. In case of any fallbacks, we can address them before it is late.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we know very well that in any organization, there has to be planning. This is because these governments are run by elected leaders, who I am sure when they were running for office, had a vision for those counties. As the Mover rightfully put it, we have to take care of the socio-economic and political wellbeing of the citizens and also have a target, that by the time that period of five years lapses, at least, they should have attained some optimum level of development. Even if it will not be possible in five years, at least, they will have reached a certain level of development, which requires that government, before it takes off, to put that on paper in consultation with the citizens. They should come up with their targets. If the five years elapse, where will that government expect the level of development in that county to have reached?

Madam Temporary Speaker, for some of us, this is a very good opportunity, because we come from areas where we feel that we are not at the same level as the rest of the country. This is because we feel that the resource allocation for the last 50 years was

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to thank the Mover of this Motion. She did a good job. The spirit of this Motion is alive. It is not too late to suggest that we come up with this kind of Motions. When I looked at this Motion, from the word go, although I liked the spirit and wishes of the Mover, I still thought that we needed to go beyond the Motion. After amending it, my interest and proposal is to bring an amendment to the main Act. That is after we have done what we are doing now.

I would like to propose an amendment which will start preparing the county governments for bad days to come. We must have a statutory law to enable us direct county governments to do what they are supposed to do.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in the meantime, I would like to move an amendment which states as follows:-

THAT, the Motion be amended by deleting all the words appearing immediately after the word “Senate” in the eighth line and inserting in place thereof the following words; “direct county governments to take

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to support the Motion as amended and congratulate Sen. (Dr.) Zani for bringing it. This is because it really touches the core of our mandate which is to represent the interests of the counties and their governments. This Motion is important because it now gives us the tools with which we can effectively gauge the performance of our counties. That way, we can work on an informed position when we are defending them.

I support the amendment, but I hope that at a certain stage, this will not only apply to the county governments, but also to the national Government because the counties are not operating on the basis of the county governments only. We know that there is still a big role being played by the national Government in the counties. It is our responsibility as well to ensure that they play their role as expected. So, I believe that at a certain time, maybe separately, we can also require the national Government to do likewise for every county.

Madam Temporary Speaker, as we are all aware, integrated plans have been prepared by the counties, but we must admit that the process was rather hurried and there was not enough consultation and even representatives both in the Senate and in the National Assemblies might not have had time in some places to be consulted and to have an input. It is very important that for everybody in the county to own the process, they should be involved and, more particularly, the representatives of the people; the Senate and the National Assembly, so that there is no excuse at a later stage to disown certain programmes that were included therein.

In this country, we are known for having very good development plans and good indicators, but we lack in monitoring and evaluation. So, I think at a later stage, we must put in place an independent monitoring and evaluation body that will be able to assess the performance of counties and the national Government in delivering what they promised to do. This is necessary since we now have two levels of Government. There is need for a body that supervises them just the way the Controller and Auditor-General cuts across. Their reports will be very valuable to us in dealing with the counties and the national Government in as far as the development agenda is concerned.

Madam Temporary Speaker, as we develop these programmes, we must know that there is no way we can separate the two levels of Government. For instance, I am aware that in some development plans that were prepared by counties, issues of police stations or policing in general were not included because that is not their mandate. We are all aware that all these developments that we are talking about will not succeed unless the aspect of security is looked at.

There are other cross-cutting issues, for example, urbanization. In all economies that have become developed, we know that they have done so through urbanization. That is really the direction we should take. Sen. Wetangula had alluded to it; that we have tended to centralize everything in Nairobi and, perhaps, that is why we are not growing as fast. We should really have more cities in this country in order to be able to develop. Devolution to the counties gives us these opportunities.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the Act that defines the criteria for a city or a municipality has done more harm than good. Instead of deliberately enhancing the status of our cities and towns, it has even gone to the extent of demoting some of our urban centres. For example, Kitale Municipality is supposed to be a township. I do not know what the intention is. We should purposely target towns, even those which are not there to be uplifted to city status. But if we step backwards and use the basis of population alone we may not be able to properly determine a city or a municipality. We should also look at other aspects. For example, we should say that every county headquarters should be a municipality, whether it is small and then plan the road network to make it possible to become a municipality. Some have argued that previously, some townships that were just villages were created. It is true, but if you look at all of them, you will discover one thing; the fact that they were created made those centres grow.

In developing the criteria, we should also look at other parameters and not just economic indicators. We should also look at the national values and principles; whether the counties are conforming to the requirements of the Constitution in terms of human rights and national values like sharing and looking after the marginalized and so on. At the moment, I am not sure that these parameters are being given weight by our county governments.

With those few remarks, I support.

Thank you Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity to support this amendment which will add value to the Motion which had earlier been Moved by Sen. (Dr.) Zani. Indeed, since originally the Council of Governors was the one in charge of the counties, there was no way the governors would be the ones evaluating themselves. It now makes sense that we can, as the Senate, get the annual

Madam Temporary Speaker, he is a Senator and friend.

progress reports for every country so that we can all be apprised and see a coordinated plan for the entire country as envisaged in the Vision 2030. I know that when the Vision 2030 was written, no specific agenda was identified for every county.

Now, we can get some of the plans that had not been brought forward from every county. For example, where I come from, my governor and county government officers came up with development agendas that are very specific. We should see the value additions that are taking place in that county. We keep a lot of cattle. For a long time, my county had been a closed district; therefore, we were not able to sell these valuable animals to key markets in Kenya and outside. I expect that a key agenda that will be put forward by my county government and other pastoralist county governments would be how they can process animal products from what they have in their counties; how they can have access to ready markets in some counties which they did not have access to. This way, they should get investors coming to invest directly in their counties.

The other issue that I have seen as being very key and which we should look at properly in this Senate is the manufacturing of some of the goods there. For example, my colleague neighbour from Trans Nzoia County talked about maize which we grow every year and take all the way to so many maize milling plants in Mombasa, which then return it back to us as a finished product. But when we have key development agendas that are deliberately targeted for every county, there is nobody who can do it, except the governor and we will oversee whatever that they will be doing. We can see to it that our people get employment in those regions where the original raw materials emanate from.

We know, for example, that the nation’s attention is now focused on Turkana County where oil has been discovered. Where will that oil be processed? How will that county benefit from it? So, I am looking at it in the sense that one of the key development agendas which that county must submit to us is how they are planning to process that oil. Is there a level of manufacturing taking place in Turkana County for this precious mineral that has been discovered? If not, then it means there is something that we need to do as the Senate. We should step in and say “we have to see a degree of manufacturing taking place at the source” so that we can improve the level of investments in that area. Our target in this Motion is to see how the social sector develops and how the economic sector also expands on top of the political sector. The social sector can only be built when the economic sector becomes strong.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I remember that since Independence, we have always sung about the three enemies; hunger, disease and ignorance. If we come up with key development plans that target to eradicate or minimize these problems, it will be great. But you find that in some areas, the national Government still gives people relief food every year, yet these are healthy people who can work. No plans have been put in place for irrigation in those areas which have water so that these people can wake up and work for themselves. This Motion comes at a time that we need to focus, move from the usual way of operating as Kenyans and go to areas we have never thought of before. Who knew that coffee would grow? Now we have coffee growing in Kiambu. I am told that Kiambu is almost replacing coffee with buildings. But if we remove that, that would be a problem now.

We need to see how we can go to some of the frontier areas that we have never been to before, open them up and remove this congestion we see in Nairobi. Nairobi is attracting people to do what? Our people have this belief that if you go to the city, you can get a job and live a good life. But our counties can develop and we would see in the counties’ key agendas points where they are saying they are opening up areas far away from the county headquarters so that they also do not crowd and have mini “Nairobis” in the county headquarters. For example, where I come from, I would like to see us opening up the exterior of Kacheliba which is very flat and where we can do irrigation. We can extend the Wei Wei Irrigation Scheme. That is an agenda which will bring a lot of revolution there and people can move away from the urban areas.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we keep on hearing a song where people are saying that a lot of money has been taken to the counties; this is what some National Assembly Members and some people in the Executive keep on saying. They say: “Can they consume the money they have first so that we can see whether they have the capacity?” I want to see how the county Governments and the governors can come up with their strategies and roll out these programmes. We can compare and now show them that this is what has been done with this money.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to hold one another accountable and systems must be in place. In the same vein, I want to know who will handle the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). Is the Implementation Committee responsible? Before we move on to this system, there have been very many great challenges, particularly from counties where some of us come from, where the auditors from Nairobi do not reach. Will the county governor now audit the CDF people on the ground? Who will do it? We are going to see to it ourselves that we oversee the plans for the county governments, but what about the other ones? So, in one way or the other, we need to see how we can integrate our own supervision to ensure that issues that touch on the development in the counties are done.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in this fashion where we are saying we now have a level checking one level, I support this amendment as has been suggested.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Sen. Lesuuda.

In this country, we are known for having very good development plans and good indicators, but we lack in monitoring and evaluation. So, I think at a later stage, we must put in place an independent monitoring and evaluation body that will be able to assess the performance of counties and the national Government in delivering what they promised to do. This is necessary since we now have two levels of Government. There is need for a body that supervises them just the way the Controller and Auditor-General cuts across. Their reports will be very valuable to us in dealing with the counties and the national Government in as far as the development agenda is concerned.

Madam Temporary Speaker, as we develop these programmes, we must know that there is no way we can separate the two levels of Government. For instance, I am aware that in some development plans that were prepared by counties, issues of police stations or policing in general were not included because that is not their mandate. We are all aware that all these developments that we are talking about will not succeed unless the aspect of security is looked at.

There are other cross-cutting issues, for example, urbanization. In all economies that have become developed, we know that they have done so through urbanization. That is really the direction we should take. Sen. Wetangula had alluded to it; that we have tended to centralize everything in Nairobi and, perhaps, that is why we are not growing as fast. We should really have more cities in this country in order to be able to develop. Devolution to the counties gives us these opportunities.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the Act that defines the criteria for a city or a municipality has done more harm than good. Instead of deliberately enhancing the status of our cities and towns, it has even gone to the extent of demoting some of our urban centres. For example, Kitale Municipality is supposed to be a township. I do not know what the intention is. We should purposely target towns, even those which are not there to be uplifted to city status. But if we step backwards and use the basis of population alone we may not be able to properly determine a city or a municipality. We should also look at other aspects. For example, we should say that every county headquarters should be a municipality, whether it is small and then plan the road network to make it possible to become a municipality. Some have argued that previously, some townships that were just villages were created. It is true, but if you look at all of them, you will discover one thing; the fact that they were created made those centres grow.

In developing the criteria, we should also look at other parameters and not just economic indicators. We should also look at the national values and principles; whether the counties are conforming to the requirements of the Constitution in terms of human rights and national values like sharing and looking after the marginalized and so on. At the moment, I am not sure that these parameters are being given weight by our county governments.

With those few remarks, I support.

foundation for our counties. So, I would like to thank him for this amendment. We are also looking forward to amending this Act.

Madam Temporary Speaker, it is also important to note that just as we have been talking about planning, and what Sen. Beatrice has talked about, we should ensure that the county governments or the governors and their teams plan properly so that whatever they are planning to do in the counties does not overlap with what the CDF is doing. We want to avoid duplication in our counties. We also need to put measures in place to ensure that we do not misappropriate the money or put too much money in one area. I think all leaders in the county governments should sit together, think through and come up with a plan so that we maximum development in our counties.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the other issue is to do with not spending money allocated to the key Ministries by the national Government and returning it to the Treasury for one reason or another. With this plan I hope and pray that there will be no county where money will be returned to Treasury because it has not been utilised. As a Senate, we will also have failed if we will not be able to ensure that the governors and the county governments use the money that they have been allocated. This is something that we need to think about as a Senate. That is why the amendments to the Motion will be very important.

As we pass this Motion - and I have trust in the Committee for Implementation to ensure that this actually happens - we are just directing the county governments, but we are yet to see whether they will actually implement what this Motion is asking them to do. We should ask ourselves how we can ensure that there is inter-county cooperation. There are issues that cut across counties, for example, in counties across the northern part of Kenya like security and peace. It is important that counties come up with a strategic plan and ensure that there is peace. I wish they could say that for the next four years there is going to be peace in that region. Without peace, there is no development. The strategic plan in those counties should ensure that there is peace between Laikipia, Samburu, Moyale and in other counties in the region. No single governor can do it alone because the conflict is inter-county.

I am very happy to see that the governors of Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu and Isiolo have called for a meeting this Friday to talk about peace and security. This is important because even as the money starts going to the counties, they will have time to deliver services to the people. I think this Motion is very important and I support it. It is also important to note that we need more teeth to ensure that these things work. If it fails, as we said earlier, then the Senate will have something to answer.

I support the amendment to this Motion.

progress reports for every country so that we can all be apprised and see a coordinated plan for the entire country as envisaged in the Vision 2030. I know that when the Vision 2030 was written, no specific agenda was identified for every county.

Now, we can get some of the plans that had not been brought forward from every county. For example, where I come from, my governor and county government officers came up with development agendas that are very specific. We should see the value additions that are taking place in that county. We keep a lot of cattle. For a long time, my county had been a closed district; therefore, we were not able to sell these valuable animals to key markets in Kenya and outside. I expect that a key agenda that will be put forward by my county government and other pastoralist county governments would be how they can process animal products from what they have in their counties; how they can have access to ready markets in some counties which they did not have access to. This way, they should get investors coming to invest directly in their counties.

The other issue that I have seen as being very key and which we should look at properly in this Senate is the manufacturing of some of the goods there. For example, my colleague neighbour from Trans Nzoia County talked about maize which we grow every year and take all the way to so many maize milling plants in Mombasa, which then return it back to us as a finished product. But when we have key development agendas that are deliberately targeted for every county, there is nobody who can do it, except the governor and we will oversee whatever that they will be doing. We can see to it that our people get employment in those regions where the original raw materials emanate from.

We know, for example, that the nation’s attention is now focused on Turkana County where oil has been discovered. Where will that oil be processed? How will that county benefit from it? So, I am looking at it in the sense that one of the key development agendas which that county must submit to us is how they are planning to process that oil. Is there a level of manufacturing taking place in Turkana County for this precious mineral that has been discovered? If not, then it means there is something that we need to do as the Senate. We should step in and say “we have to see a degree of manufacturing taking place at the source” so that we can improve the level of investments in that area. Our target in this Motion is to see how the social sector develops and how the economic sector also expands on top of the political sector. The social sector can only be built when the economic sector becomes strong.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I remember that since Independence, we have always sung about the three enemies; hunger, disease and ignorance. If we come up with key development plans that target to eradicate or minimize these problems, it will be great. But you find that in some areas, the national Government still gives people relief food every year, yet these are healthy people who can work. No plans have been put in place for irrigation in those areas which have water so that these people can wake up and work for themselves. This Motion comes at a time that we need to focus, move from the usual way of operating as Kenyans and go to areas we have never thought of before. Who knew that coffee would grow? Now we have coffee growing in Kiambu. I am told that Kiambu is almost replacing coffee with buildings. But if we remove that, that would be a problem now.

We need to see how we can go to some of the frontier areas that we have never been to before, open them up and remove this congestion we see in Nairobi. Nairobi is attracting people to do what? Our people have this belief that if you go to the city, you can get a job and live a good life. But our counties can develop and we would see in the counties’ key agendas points where they are saying they are opening up areas far away from the county headquarters so that they also do not crowd and have mini “Nairobis” in the county headquarters. For example, where I come from, I would like to see us opening up the exterior of Kacheliba which is very flat and where we can do irrigation. We can extend the Wei Wei Irrigation Scheme. That is an agenda which will bring a lot of revolution there and people can move away from the urban areas.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we keep on hearing a song where people are saying that a lot of money has been taken to the counties; this is what some National Assembly Members and some people in the Executive keep on saying. They say: “Can they consume the money they have first so that we can see whether they have the capacity?” I want to see how the county Governments and the governors can come up with their strategies and roll out these programmes. We can compare and now show them that this is what has been done with this money.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to hold one another accountable and systems must be in place. In the same vein, I want to know who will handle the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). Is the Implementation Committee responsible? Before we move on to this system, there have been very many great challenges, particularly from counties where some of us come from, where the auditors from Nairobi do not reach. Will the county governor now audit the CDF people on the ground? Who will do it? We are going to see to it ourselves that we oversee the plans for the county governments, but what about the other ones? So, in one way or the other, we need to see how we can integrate our own supervision to ensure that issues that touch on the development in the counties are done.

Madam Temporary Speaker, in this fashion where we are saying we now have a level checking one level, I support this amendment as has been suggested.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker.

marginalisation occurring in Nairobi and Kisumu counties because of the slums that we have. Therefore, when we talk about plans that can deliver, we are saying that each county has an area that is marginalised. However, it is only when you have a clear plan or blueprint that will guide you that you will identify and see where you need to improve.

I call upon the Mover to reply.

Sen. (Dr.) Zani, that is in order. It is my opinion that you mean tomorrow. I think next week will be appropriate because tomorrow we will still not have a quorum. Many of our colleagues have travelled. So, we will have the question put on next week Wednesday afternoon at 3.00 pm.

Next Order!

Madam Temporary Speaker, Sir, I also stand to support the amendment of the Motion. When we were reading the original Motion, we realized that we were telling the same person to do the plan and to also put in place measures to ensure that it can be done. But now with the amendments, I believe the Senate now has the right to follow up and ensure that each county gives a report. This will also help the Controller of Budget ensure that as she looks at the financial bit, she is also able to ensure that whatever they have proposed goes in line with the plans they had done. It will also assist

Senator, I think you can proceed. Owing to the constraint of time, you may not have it seconded, but we will proceed tomorrow from where you will have stopped.

Madam Temporary Speaker, since I came back today, I request that you allow me to prepare myself and move the Motion tomorrow if that is okay.

So you want to prepare your talking points? That is okay. Prepare you notes. We want you to make a good presentation.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I refer to Standing Order No.51 (3) and request that we defer the putting of the question to a date that you will guide us on, probably, on Wednesday afternoon because we do not have the numbers to vote on the amendment and the main Motion.

Sen. (Dr.) Zani, that is in order. It is my opinion that you mean tomorrow. I think next week will be appropriate because tomorrow we will still not have a quorum. Many of our colleagues have travelled. So, we will have the question put on next week Wednesday afternoon at 3.00 pm.

Next Order!

Madam Temporary Speaker, I think we should defer this Motion to tomorrow.

Senator, I think you can proceed. Owing to the constraint of time, you may not have it seconded, but we will proceed tomorrow from where you will have stopped.

Madam Temporary Speaker, since I came back today, I request that you allow me to prepare myself and move the Motion tomorrow if that is okay.

So you want to prepare your talking points? That is okay. Prepare you notes. We want you to make a good presentation.

Hon. Senators, there being no further business, the Senate stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday 18th September, 2013 at 9.00 a.m.

The Senate rose at 6.05 p.m.