SAMBURU COUNTY; THURSDAY, 16TH JANUARY, 2020
The Rt. Hon Kenneth Lusaka, Speaker of the Senate & Our Chief Guest Today.
Sen. Dr. Langat Christopher, Senator Bomet County
Sen. Philip Mpaayei, Senator Kajiado County
Sen. Enock Wambua, Senator Kitui County
Sen. Boniface Kabaka, Senator Machakos County
Sen. Falhada Dekow Iman, Nominated Senator Garissa County
The Hon Solomon Lempere, Speaker of the County Assembly of Samburu
The Leaders of Majority and Minority parties in the House
County Assembly Leadership
Honourable Members of the County Assembly of Samburu,
The Clerk to the County Assembly,
The great people of Samburu County,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:
Entaa Supa Pooki! Hamjambo!
First, I would like in a special way, welcome my Boss and a brother, The Rt. Hounourable Kenneth Lusaka, The Speaker of the Senate of the Republic Kenya, and my colleagues in the Senate who got time away from their busy schedules to be with us this beautiful morning – in our County, better known as the land of the butterfly people.
Secondly, on a very sad note, on behalf of my family and myself, I would like to send our sincere condolences to our Deputy Governor, HE Julius Leseeto for the loss of his dear wife, Her Excellency Mama Linah Leseeto. May the good Lord Rest her Soul in perpetual peace.
On my own behalf and on behalf of the great people of Samburu County, I thank our chief guest the Rt. Honourable Speaker of The Senate of the Republic of Kenya for creating time to be with us today. Your presence in our midst, Mr Speaker Sir, is a manifestation of your commitment to ensure the success of devolution in Samburu County and every county in our Republic. We the people of Samburu County feel honoured and privileged to host you today. Thank you so very much Mr Speaker sir.
My colleague Senators who have left enormous oversight and representation duties in your respective counties to accompany the Senate Speaker and spend time with my people in Samburu County, I say thank you very much and may the Lord our God bless you, your families and the counties whose interests you ably represent in the Senate.
Mr Speaker Sir, allow me to congratulate the leadership and honourable members of the County Assembly of Samburu for this far they have come in the execution of their primary oversight role as provided for in the supreme law of the land.
Mr Speaker Sir, colleague Senators and the great people of Samburu, it is a universal ideal that understanding the past and drawing lessons from history is a prerequisite for successful forward planning. Our devolved system of government is anchored on a deep desire by the Kenyan people to have the final say on development projects through public participation. This approach is a deliberate and well thought out departure from the centralist principle where technocrats would sit in boardrooms in Nairobi and determine what projects to implement in Samburu. This has created space for a bottom-up approach to the development of Samburu County and indeed all other counties. As a leadership we must appropriate this constitutional provision for the benefit of everyone including residents of the remotest parts of our county and our country.
Mr Speaker Sir, As we celebrate and preside over the unveiling of the Strategic Plan for the County Assembly of Samburu, we must be guided by the relevant constitutional provisions and legal norms. The drafters of our progressive Constitution made explicit provisions to ensure the principle of separation of powers is properly grounded and deeply rooted in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. The drafters did a fantastic job and Kenyans approved it by ensuring that all elective positions have their roles clearly defined.
Whereas it is true Mr Speaker Sir that interdependence of the different arms of government at both national and county levels is encouraged in the Constitution, this provision does not envisage a situation where leaders in one arm of government would usurp the duties and responsibilities of leaders in other arms.
As the duly elected Senator of Samburu County, I work tirelessly with other senators to allocate funds to the County Government of Samburu. When I perform this role, everyone is happy. In the same manner, everyone should be happy when I stand on Article 96 of our Constitution to demand accountability on the use of the same resources. It is unacceptable, Mr Speaker Sir, that I am appreciated when I bring billions of shillings for service delivery to the great people of Samburu through the County Government of Samburu and frowned upon when I point out misuse of these resources.
Mr Speaker Sir, the oversight role of my office over resources devolved to my county is well complimented by the primary oversight role of the County Assembly of Samburu. It must be noted by all and sundry that the CA of Samburu is an equal partner with the Executive arm to form the County Government of Samburu. None of these two arms is subservient to the other.
To this end Mr Speaker Sir and colleague Senators, I encourage members of the County Assembly of Samburu to take keen interest on the County Governments Act, 2012, and specifically Section 9 which defines the roles of Member of County Assembly (MCA) in a devolved system of government. I invite the Honourable MCAs to read and appreciate the explicit provisions of Section 9 (2) (a) and (b) of the Act which prohibits an MCA from directly or indirectly performing roles assigned to the Executive arm of government. This explicit provision is meant to ensure that there is no conflict of interest in service delivery to the public.
In view of this and other provisions of the Constitution and the law, I wish to persuade all Member of County Assembly (MCA) in the County Government of Samburu, irrespective of political party affiliation, to find reason to work in close consultation with the Office of the Senator for the effective execution of legislative, representation and oversight roles for the benefit of our people.
When the history of Samburu County is finally written, this day and this event will be recorded as a significant step in guiding the Legislative agenda of the County Assembly of Samburu for the next three years and beyond.
As we critique our performance and the performance of other elected leaders in the space of the last two years, we must not forget to be grateful for certain milestones achieved.
If we take stock of how we have executed our responsibilities this far, you will agree with me that we have registered many conquests and that we have many success stories to tell in the midst of the enormous challenges we continue to encounter in this journey.
That said, we must never forget that there is so much more to be done in hot pursuit of the prosperity dream our people hold so firmly on. The realisation of that dream lies significantly on our shoulders as leaders in our time.
Our people yearn for better roads, better schools, better health facilities and access to clean water among other developmental concerns and this underscores our primary role as leaders to ensure that all this is given.
THANK YOU ALL
GOD BLESS YOU
GOD BLESS SAMBURU COUNTY.
