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"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
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"content": " Sen. Karen Nyamu."
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support the Division of Revenue Bill."
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"content": "(There was a technical hitch)"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
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"content": "What is wrong with my microphone?"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
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"content": " You are on, Sen. Karen. You may proceed."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill. I also urge the county governments to be contented with the Kshs391.1 billion that we are allocating to them. It translates to about 25 percent of the money that the Government collects. The Government is already grappling with financial constraints due to lack of financial access in both local and international markets. The President has been in the forefront urging us all to live within our means. Let us avoid over ambitious budgets which lead to corruption and stalled projects. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Controller of Budget (CoB) report indicates that most counties are spending 75 percent of money allocated to them on recurring expenditure like salaries, against the regulations of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act which indicate that salaries should be about 35 percent. There is also the question of accountability. Many governors are not able to account for the money that goes to them. County governments should also seek to settle all eligible pending bills and avoid the stalling of projects. With those few remarks, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Sen. (Dr.) Oburu Oginga."
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"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Oburu",
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"legal_name": "Oburu Ngona Odinga",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity. I also want to add my voice to this Bill as I support the report by our Committee on Finance and Budget. It recommends an increment over and above the one by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Oburu",
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"id": 194,
"legal_name": "Oburu Ngona Odinga",
"slug": "oburu-odinga"
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"content": "I am doing this because I am happy with the way the Senate this time is handling this Bill. Last year, when we discussed this issue, we were divided. We argued on whether to increase or not and whether to increase to the level recommended by CRA or leave it at the level passed by the National Assembly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, today we have a substantial increase recommended by our Committee on Finance and Budget. When you increase the allocation from Kshs385 billion to Kshs391 billion, that increase of Kshs6 billion does not even meet the inflation. When you talk of increment, there is increment in nominal terms and increment in real terms. Increment in real terms takes inflation into consideration. Once you knock out the inflation, then you can consider whether you have actually increased the budget. When you do not take that into consideration and you talk about nominal increment, you are missing the point because you are giving them less than what it is, if it is less than the increment in terms of inflation. This increment as recommended by our Committee on Finance and Budget will go a long way in meeting some of the needs of our counties. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, having spoken about the need to increase allocation to the counties, I would like to say that our counties need to be tightly controlled. We need to have controlled measures to make sure that they do not pocket monies meant to offer services to our people. When devolution was introduced in Nigeria, more than 50 per cent of the governors went to jail because they did not know how to run a devolved system. They thought it was devolving corruption and ‘eating’ of money. After tight measures were introduced, devolution is now functioning very well. We have not managed in our country. We hear governors are being interrogated here and there, but none of them who steal money from the public ever goes where they should be. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is also the issue of pending bills that are killing businesses. They are making life very difficult for people who are not paid. I have seen the list of pending bills. Instead of reducing pending bills, some counties are increasing them. This is very serious, because counties are supposed to take into consideration the people to whom they are offering services. It is serious that they are still adding a problem to an already big problem. The Senate needs to take cognition of this and take some measures to deal with such counties who instead of reducing, are increasing the pending bills. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not want to say much more on this issue. When counties make statutory deductions from their employees, such as National Social Security Fund (NSSF), National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the Pay As You Earn (PAYE), they retain these revenues and convert them into their own use. This is a very serious matter because there are people who are supposed to earn pensions, but do not because there are no remittances. Others want to access hospitals but they cannot because counties have not remitted money to pay for the hospital insurance. This is an issue which also needs serious attention because counties are not supposed to use monies that they have deducted from their employees. This is not part of their money. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Oburu",
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"speaker": {
"id": 194,
"legal_name": "Oburu Ngona Odinga",
"slug": "oburu-odinga"
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other issue is on OSR. This is an area where counties can get additional money to supplement the equitable share from the national Government. However, some counties leave a lot of loopholes and do not even want to go modern by using electronic means of collecting money, which is more efficient in collection and---"
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