NCA/122/11/2014 (2) NYANDARUA COUNTY ASSEMBLY DEBATES
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
NYANDARUA COUNTY ASSEMBLY
1st ASSEMBLY-2nd SESSION
OFFICIAL (HANSARD) REPORT
18TH NOVEMBER 2014
The assembly met at the Assembly Chambers at 2: 30 PM
The Deputy Speaker, Hon. Wambugu King’ori on the chair
Prayer
Speaker: First order.
Clerk: Administration of oath.
Speaker: Next order.
Clerk: Communication from the Chair.
Speaker: Hon. Members, I wish to welcome you all to this new venue where the Assembly shall be holding its sittings and the sittings of its committees for the period starting 15th to 24th November 2014, both days inclusive.
The decision to relocate to this new venue from our ordinary premises at Ol’kalou P.C.E.A church was made following a communication that the same grounds were intended for use, and in fact are being used by the Church, for the purpose of facilitating a rite of passage to our young men. Arising from the said communication and considering the dignity deserved by this House and the rite of passage as exercised in our community, my office made an administrative decision to relocate the sittings of the Assembly and its committees to the present venue.
My decision was based on the powers conferred to the Speaker by our Standing Orders and in particular Articles 1 and 29(3), on the issue of relocating the venue for the sittings of the Assembly.
Our present venue has been duly gazetted in the Kenya Gazette Special Issue dated 11th November 2014, VOL.CXVI-No.134, Notice No. 8169 and thus it has a legal acknowledgment. I wish you all pleasant sittings in this venue as we continue to carry out our legislative, oversight and representative mandate.
I also wish to invite comments from Hon. Members on this new development.
Hon. Kirumba.
Hon. Kirumba: Your communication Mr. Speaker has captured what I wanted to rise and address. It is no doubt that the oxygen concentration in this room is higher than what we are used to in the other venue.
I think this is the place where we ought to be operating from. There would be no harm of the County Assembly Service Board (CASB) liaising with the Administration of this institution so that we have the offices of the County Assembly relocated to this place. It is a very comfortable place.
Being here makes me feel as if I am a hippopotamus enjoying the waters of lake Ol-bolosat. Even the atmosphere of this place is very conducive. I really do support this initiative by the leadership of our assembly which came as a result of our usual venue being used for facilitating the rite of passage to our young men.
This relocation is a blessing in disguise and Hon. Kieru, since the venue is in his ward, would be the first beneficiary as our host.
Speaker: Hon. Ndirangu.
Hon. Ndirangu (Mirangine Ward): This is a very nice place to be. But we have the former municipal council chambers at Nyahururu which is a facility that would have served us as well. It also has committee rooms. We would have relocated there instead of renting this venue.
Speaker: Hon. Kibebo.
Hon. Kibebo: Mr Speaker Sir bearing in mind that our usual work place is at Ol’kalou, I would request that we be facilitated as members for the extra distance that we will now be expected to cover to get to this new venue.
Speaker: Hon. Kamau Ngotho.
Hon. Kamau Ngotho: I do not support the idea of relocating to Nyahururu because Nyahururu itself is in Laikipia County. We should not forget that Ol’kalou is the County Headquarter. Let us not enjoy the comfort of this place till we forget that the Assembly Chambers are supposed to be in Ol’kalou. Nevertheless, we would want to know through the Chair how much this place is costing the Assembly in terms of rent.
Speaker: Thank you Hon. Members for your comments concerning the relocation.
(Hon. Gichuki rises)
Do you want to comment on the relocation Hon. Gichuki?
Hon. Mwangi Gichuki: Yes.
Speaker: Proceed.
Hon. Mwangi Gichuki: I thank the Administration especially the Clerk’s office for the arrangements that made it possible for us to relocate to this venue.
Considering that our usual work place is at Ol’kalou, members would be facilitated for the extra distance that they would be required to cover in order to get to this place. Apart from this hall where we will be holding our plenary, this venue encompasses two committee rooms, a kitchen, a room for the office of the Speaker, a room for the office of the Clerk and a room for the office of the Sergeant-at-arms. The rent for the venue is 5,000 shillings per day. For the five days that we will operate from here, we will be required to pay 25,000 shillings in total.
Speaker: Thank you Hon. Mwangi Gichuki. Next order.
Clerk: Messages.
Speaker: Next order.
Clerk: Petitions.
Speaker: Next order.
Clerk: Papers; there is a paper to be laid by Hon. Mwangi Gichuki.
Speaker: Hon. Mwangi Gichuki.
(Hon. Kirumba rises)
Yes Hon. Kirumba.
Hon. Kirumba: Mr. Speaker I rise to table the County Budget Operation Manual on behalf of Hon. Mwangi Gichuki. The Manual will be photocopied and put in the members’ files. I beg to table with the Clerk.
(Hon. Kieru rises)
Speaker: Yes Hon. Kieru.
Hon. Kieru: Mr. Speaker we would want to know the source of the Manual.
Speaker: Hon. Kirumba you need to explain to the House the source of the Manual.
Hon. Kirumba: The Manual is from the National Treasury. In addition, we would be required to interrogate the Manual as members.
Speaker: Thank you Hon. Kirumba for tabling the County Budget Operation Manual. Next order.
Clerk: There is a second paper to be laid by Hon. Mwangi Gichuki.
(Hon. Kirumba rises)
Speaker: Yes Hon. Kirumba.
Hon. Kirumba: Mr. Speaker on behalf of Hon. Gichuki Mwangi I also wish to table the County Governments Internal Audit Training Manual. The same is from the National Government. The Manual will be photocopied and copies availed to the members after which we shall arrange for a four-day retreat in order to scrutinize what it entails.
Speaker: Thank you Hon. Kirumba. I hope that the office of the Clerk will act with speed to ensure that copies of the two Manuals are availed to the members. Next order.
Clerk: Mr. Speaker Sir there is another paper to be laid by Hon. Gachomba.
Speaker: Hon. Gachomba.
Hon. Gachomba: I wish to table the report on the appointment of the Chief Officer for Finance and Economic Planning by the joint Committees on Budget and Appropriations and Implementation. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
Speaker: Thank you Hon. Gachomba. The House Business Committee will allocate time for giving notice of motion on the same. Next order.
Clerk: Notices of motion; Mr. Speaker Sir there is a notice of motion by Hon. Gachomba.
Speaker: Hon. Gachomba.
Hon. Gachomba: I beg to give notice of the following motion:
That this House does adopt the report on the Nyandarua County Executive (Members) car loan and mortgage scheme fund by the Committees on Budget and Appropriations and Implementation as a report of this House and the recommendations therein as resolutions of this House. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
Speaker: Thank you Hon. Gachomba. The time for moving the motion on the same has been allocated by the House Business Committee. Next order.
Clerk: Statements.
Speaker: Next order.
Clerk: Motions and bills; Mr. Speaker Sir there is a motion by Hon. Kamau Ngotho.
Speaker: Hon. Kamau Ngotho.
Hon. Kamau Ngotho: I beg to move the following motion Mr. Speaker;
That this House does adopt the report on benchmarking on ICT projects by the Committee on ICT and e-Government as a report of this House and the recommendations therein as resolutions of this House.
(Hon. Nyangati rises on a point of order)
Speaker: Hon. Nyangati.
Hon. Nyangati: The report on benchmarking on ICT projects by the Committee on ICT and e-Government is not available in most of the members’ files.
Speaker: Those members who do not have a copy of the report in their files can liaise with the Sergeant-at-arms in order to get one. Hon. Kamau Ngotho proceed.
Hon. Kamau Ngotho: It is very unfortunate that the Vice Chair of the Committee, Hon. Nyangati, has no copy of the report. I wonder how she would be able to second the motion without having a copy of the report.
There are some technical words in the report whose meaning Hon. Mwangi Gichuki and other members should be made aware of:
ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology; USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data; Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity; LAN stands for Local Area Network; WAN stands for Wide Area Network;
(Hon. Mwangi Gichuki rises on a point of order)
Speaker: Yes Hon. Mwangi Gichuki.
Hon. Mwangi Gichuki: Mr. Speaker I really want to know whether it is in order for the Chairman of the Committee on ICT and e-Government Hon. Kamau Ngotho, to allege that I do not understand the technical terms in the report yet he knows very well that I am a teacher in that area.
(Applause)
Speaker: Hon. Kamau Ngotho, the Chairman of the Committee on ICT and e-Government, you should respond to Hon. Mwangi Gichuki’s concern.
Hon. Kamau Ngotho: Mr. Speaker Sir you can tell a person who is ICT compliant by the way they hold their phones. Mr. Speaker Sir if you look at the Majority Leader, even if he understands what ICT is, he must have learnt it ‘through the window’.
(Applause)
I beg to continue. Pursuant to standing order 186 (5), the committee is mandated to:
i. Investigate, inquire into and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, activities, administration, operations and estimates of the assigned departments;
ii. Study, assess and analyse the relative success of the departments as measured by the results obtained as compared with its stated objectives;
iii. Investigate and inquire into all matters relating to the assigned departments as they may deem necessary, and as may be referred to them by the Assembly;
iv. Based on the abovementioned, make informed decisions, recommendations, write and submit a committee report on the Bill incorporating the views of the public.
We were mainly dealing with items i, ii and iv above. My Vice Chair, Hon. Nyangati, Hon. Josphat Kamau, Hon. Kieru and I visited Safaricom Limited Company. We were accompanied by the Committee Clerk, Aurelia Wanjiru, the Media Relations Officer, Kimone Kimone and Commissionaire, Daniel Kamau. I thank all of them. I hope that members have gone through the report.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the Committee sought to determine the various ICT needs that the county envisions to satisfy in its bid to use ICT as an enabler for efficient delivery of services to the citizens to enhance social, political and economic development. In line with this, the Committee visited one of the telecommunications giants in and out of Kenya, Safaricom Limited Company, to converse on the various solutions that are available for counties in promoting use of ICT.
Safaricom Limited Company is the leading mobile network operator in Kenya. It was established in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone Group (Private Limited Company) of the United Kingdom acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the company. Its headquarters are located at the Safaricom House, Waiyaki Way in Westlands, Nairobi. Please protect me Mr. Speaker.
Speaker: Let us have order Hon. members.
Hon. Kamau Ngotho: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Safaricom’s vision is: “Transforming Lives”, hence they envision providing solutions for individuals, groups, governments, including counties to make operations more effective and efficient.
Safaricom has employed over 5000 people mainly stationed in Nairobi and other big cities and towns like Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret in which it manages retail outlets. Currently it has nationwide coverage and dealers to ensure customers across the country have access to its products and services.
Safaricom’s M-PESA is what most people highly appreciate. The service enables its users to:
· Deposit and withdraw money.
· Transfer money to other users and non-users.
· Pay bills.
· Purchase airtime and;
· Transfer money between the service and a bank account
Mr. Speaker Sir let me discuss chapter two of the report which is on ‘Findings and Observations’. Nyandarua County has taken the ICT and e-Government agenda critically. Theoretically however, the optimum level of implementation of the same is yet to be achieved. The county realizes the crucial role of ICTs in the social and economic development of the County in reference to Nyandarua County Assembly Strategic Plan (2014-2019) and the Nyandarua County Integrated Development Plan (2013-2017). Indeed ICT is a key enabler in the attainment of nationwide Vision 2030.
Chapter 11 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, provides for County Governments’ powers, functions and responsibilities to deliver services in the devolved systems. Further, Chapter 4 Article 34 provides for the right of access to information by every citizen. In line with this, the County recognizes the need of ICTs to propel and make possible access of information and services to all citizenry. Information can be disseminated to populations in various ways including:
· Use of television stations
· ICT resource centres
· Websites
· Radio stations
· Public meetings
· Other media including sms, emails
· Traditional Media
It is good to note that Nyandarua is the county that has the highest number of households that listen to radio. On milestones Mr. Speaker Sir, the following are the highlights of the ICT Department in the County Assembly this far:
a) Capacity building for MCA’s and members of staff of the County Assembly
b) Procurement of MCA’S tablets
c) Procurement of ICT equipment for the members of staff i.e. laptops, printers, photocopy machines, modems and scanners
d) Procurement of computers for ward offices
e) ICT training for wards secretariat
f) Internet connectivity by use of modems