๐—›๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—˜ ๐—”๐——๐—๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—ก๐—ฆ ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐—Ÿ๐—ข๐—ก๐—š ๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—–๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ฆ ๐—”๐—ฆ ๐—›๐—ข๐—ก. ๐—ฆ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—”๐—ž๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐—›๐—œ๐—š๐—›๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—š๐—›๐—ง๐—ฆ ๐—”๐—–๐—›๐—œ๐—˜๐—ฉ๐—˜๐— ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—ฆ

๐™๐™๐™š ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™™๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™™๐™Ÿ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™– ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ง๐™š๐™˜๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™ช๐™ฅ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™๐™š๐™—๐™ง๐™ช๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ 11๐™ฉ๐™, 2025.

๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™š๐™–๐™ ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฃ. ๐™€๐™ก๐™ž๐™จ๐™๐™– ๐™…๐™–๐™˜๐™  ๐™Š๐™ง๐™–๐™ง๐™ค  ๐™ช๐™ง๐™œ๐™š๐™™  ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฃ. ๐™ˆ๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š  ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™ค๐™›๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™š๐™›๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™, ๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฏ๐™š  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™  ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™—๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™ช๐™ž๐™ก๐™™ ๐™– ๐™—๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ž๐™ง ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค  ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฃ  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™š  ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ช๐™ข๐™š๐™จ.

๐™„๐™ฃ ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ง๐™š๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฃ. ๐™ˆ๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฃ. ๐™Š๐™ง๐™–๐™ง๐™ค ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ˆ๐˜พ๐˜ผ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™›๐™› ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ž๐™ก๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐˜ผ๐™จ๐™จ๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™ข๐™–๐™™๐™š –  ๐™๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ ๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™˜๐™๐™ž๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ.

 ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™–๐™™๐™™๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™š:

Hon. Members, as we adjourn for long recess today 5th December, 2024, I wish to take this opportunity to thank God for His grace and guidance that has enabled us to reach this far.

I equally take this early opportunity to congratulate both the Hon. Members of the County Assembly and staff for their hard work and dedication towards ensuring that the County Assembly achieves its mandate.

I am proud that as an Assembly, we have made significant progress that has not only transformed the socio-economic development of Kisumu County but also earned us recognition as an Assembly.

I wish to highlight some of the achievements:

Enhanced Legislation

Hon. Members, it is encouraging to note that this Third Assembly has so far processed and passed over 20 legislations that provide legal framework for various development activities and also enhance service delivery in Kisumu County.

Most of these legislations have been enacted and operationalized.  We have also debated and passed several motions, considered several statement requests, processed over 10 petitions, and hundreds of committee reports that address the challenges of the people of Kisumu and improve their socio-economic well-being.

This is attributed to capacity building of Hon. Members and staff as well as enhanced civic education and access to information by members of the public.

Improved Oversight

Hon. Members, this Third Assembly has not shied away from its oversight mandate and has worked tirelessly to ensure accountability in Kisumu County.

Through the watch-dog Committees, we have interrogated financial statements and implementation of projects to ensure the tax-payer gets value for money.

There are instances where we have recommended sanctions and or referred matters to various government investigative agencies for further investigations.

This effort has seen the Executive make a significant step in its audit rating, moving from adverse opinion it has obtained the previous years to qualified opinion in the 2023/2024 audit report.

 The County Assembly, on the other hand, has consistently maintained a qualified opinion in its audit rating even as we strive to obtain an unqualified opinion.

Enhanced collaboration and access to information

Hon. Members, in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 on transparency, accountability and access to information, we have a made a significant milestone in the way we engage the public.

 In July, 2024, we   made a significant milestone when we conducted our inaugural Open Day – an activity which was aimed to create awareness on the mandate of the County Assembly as well as the functions and achievements made by House Committees.

The event did not only provide opportunity for Kisumu residents to sample the success stories of the County Assembly but also engage directly and seek answers from the County Assembly, the House Committees and their elected representatives. 

 We have ensured that โ€˜Mwananchiโ€™ is part and parcel of the Assemblyโ€™s deliberations and decisions and provided opportunity for the public to give real-time feedback either physically or through our digital platforms.

We have equally improved collaboration with the Executive arm of the County Government even as we jealously guard our independence.

Recognition and Awards

Hon. Members, I am pleased to note that our achievements have not gone unnoticed. We have consistently been recognized and feted by both government and non-governmental organizations on aspects such as promoting access to information, being gender responsive and being progressive Assembly in Nyanza region.   This week, the County Assembly received a major recognition by the prestigious Mizani Awards when it was feted as the 3rd most trusted County Assembly in Kenya.

The Assembly has also become a benchmarking hub, with sister County Assemblies, other government agencies and even students on study tours visiting to exchange knowledge and best practices.

Moving forward, we remain committed to achieving our vision of being a model, independent and people responsive County Assembly in Kenya. 

Hon. Members, as we break today, I wish to encourage you to take time off to refresh and reenergize as we look forward to even greater milestones next year, 2025.

I also encourage you to take time to be with your constituents so that you can build a better understanding of their feeling and challenges that we can seek to address when we resume next year.

Finally, I wish to take this early opportunity to wish all Hon. Members and staff a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, 2025!