Murang’a
assembly
speaker
Johnson Mukuha
addresses the
house during
the launch of
the digital
system on
Tuesday
/ALICE WAITHERA
The Murang’a county assembly has launched a digital system for members to conduct house business online.
The E-Parliament system will enable the assembly to
have all documents, including motions, bills and petitions, uploaded online for
the perusal of members and the public.
Each MCA's seat has been fitted with a gadget
through which they will participate in the proceedings.
Speaker Johnson Mukuha said the system will make it
possible for MCAs to engage in debates while away from the assembly.
Previously, MCAs who failed to attend sessions would miss out
on deliberations and would have to rely on their counterparts to catch them up.
“Now anyone can log in at their desks and contribute to the
matters before the house. Sometimes, work gets too voluminous and members lack
sufficient time to go through documents and participate in debates,” Mukuha said.
He said with documents such as order papers available
online, MCAs will have ample time to familiarise themselves with them, which will enrich
debates.
The system commissioned on Tuesday by Governor
Irungu Kang’ata will eliminate printing and filing costs, while easing the
process of documentation.
“This will be very efficient cost-wise. It will eliminate
printing and filing, and voting will be transparent and fast. We’ve been
yearning for this progress for a long while. Digitisation is the only way to
go,” he said.
Another system, Tendekeza, will integrate all
departments in the assembly and will make it easier to track members’
participation.
Going paperless, the speaker said, will eradicate chances of
documents being double-counted while meetings will be easily tracked.
Mukuha said previously, organising meetings outside
the precincts of the house was a tedious task that required several physical
meetings between the involved departments.
“Any meeting held away from the assembly requires a series
of approvals. Now, those involved can approve them from wherever they are and
this will move things much more easily. All assembly operations will be digital,” he said.
Mukuha explained that Local Purchase Orders will be
automatically generated, which will also enhance efficiency in the assembly,
enabling MCAs to better serve residents.
“We have seen how automation has helped the county
government increase own source revenue,” he said.
Morris Thuku, the majority chief whip, said digitisation
will especially come in handy in allowing MCAs to vote for matters without their votes being made public.
He said in some instances, members were asked to
openly declare their votes on some matters which affected how some voted.
Further, it will allow residents to easily follow
deliberations and stay informed on the activities of the assembly.
“I’m happy that I will not get a chance to share the debates
and motion that I table or participate in with my stabled in assembly with my
constituents,” Mukuha said. He said more training will be necessary to ensure
all members are fully conversant with the new system.
Stephen Muigai, Kakuzi-Mitubiri MCA, said sometimes papers
would get destroyed and be rendered illegible, making it hard for MCAs to go
through documents and prepare for debates.
“We’re happy that house business has gone digital. Our
operations will from now be like in the National Assembly,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Moses Gachui underscored the role played by
automation in saving costs and raising revenue.
He cited the county administration that managed to raise
revenue from Sh530 in 2021-22 financial year to Sh1.2 billion in 2023-24.
Gachui said the launch of the digital system was attended by
speakers from Bungoma and Kirinyaga counties as a benchmark.
Deputy speaker Stephen Munania said the automation is
in line with efforts by the county and national governments to provide services
online.
“The county government has been pushing to have services
digitised so residents can access them from their locations”.
“I thank the assembly for following suit. Now the house will
be very responsive as bills and petitions can be processed fast. With
automation, our revenue has been growing at the rate of 18 per cent annually.”
