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{
"id": 1464052,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464052/?format=api",
"text_counter": 387,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kiharu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
"speaker": null,
"content": "roads committee. We affirm this and this money has remained with these committees. We consulted with the Council of Governors and they also agreed that it would be impossible to do otherwise. Members understand that. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I, therefore, call upon Members to look at the Report. The report contains detailed information on the allocation of funds to each county from various sources, and I urge all Members to review it before making their contributions. Otherwise, I thank all the Members and the Members of the Budget and Appropriation Committee. We have met and deliberated on this. I wish to move and request the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Information Communication and Innovation, Hon. John Kiarie, the Member for Dagoretti South to second this Motion."
},
{
"id": 1464053,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464053/?format=api",
"text_counter": 388,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
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"content": " Hon. John Kiarie."
},
{
"id": 1464054,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464054/?format=api",
"text_counter": 389,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I also extend my gratitude and congratulations to the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee and his Committee. The current situation in the country has required this Committee to work diligently. Some Members may not be aware that due to the ongoing events in the country, this Committee has had to work tirelessly, without seeking extra commendation or glory. They have presented report after report as we continue to manage our budgets and source for projects in this financial year. It is not lost on any of us how we reached this point. We are aware of the situation with the Finance Bill 2024 and the subsequent review of these reports. I second and support that this Bill be approved by Parliament with the requisite amendments. If we adhere to the Committee's recommendations, we will be pushing our country towards industrialisation. The investment in county parks is informed by the bottom-up economic transformation agenda which aims to propel the country into a middle-income status. We are intentionally making efforts towards this goal. We can draw inspiration from countries like Singapore that had to pause at some point and change their way of doing things. The bottom-up economic transformation agenda is doing the same by intentionally drawing up value chains, with agriculture being one of them. Agriculture is not just about farming but also involves value addition. We aim to add value to our products so that they do not go to the market raw; for instance, we will not sell our milk raw. In doing so, we will create employment opportunities for young people and, more importantly, we will progress towards industrialisation. If approved, this Bill aimed at moving the country towards industrialisation and provides for the funding of county aggregation industrial parks in eight counties. As the Chair mentioned, instead of spreading the resources too thinly, we can begin with the eight counties and start reaping benefits from them. Universal Healthcare is a big thing in Kenya. As we develop the infrastructure-heavy projects, we are reminded that our biggest investment should be in people. The health of our people is critical. Therefore, I am excited about the journey towards universal healthcare. As the Chair mentioned, the 42 Moi districts became counties. Some are new and emerging, while others are old but never had headquarters. This Bill aims to allocate resources for the county headquarters, even as we allocate Ksh380 billion from the equitable share and additional funds. With the money that we are bringing in now with the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill (Senate Bill No.19 of 2024), counties need to rethink their economies. One easy way of rethinking county economies is appreciating that a county is such a small entity in economic terms that standing on its own might not be a concern. There might be need for our counties to start moving towards economic blocs; regional economic blocs. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1464055,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464055/?format=api",
"text_counter": 390,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I remember in 2013, the Governor for Nyeri County, the late Hon. Gakuru, mooted some amazing ideas on how to bring about county economic blocs. This is critical because that one Governor, and God rest his soul in peace, is one of the people who were behind Vision 2030. When he was elected Governor, he realised that his government in Nyeri is such a small economic entity that it might not be able to do what he intends to do in his vision. He called upon the 11 counties in the Mount Kenya Region to form an economic bloc that would be a viable entity that would even be able to sit across the table even with some of our development partners. Today, even a county like Nairobi, big as we imagine it to be, is not a viable economic entity that would sit across the table with our bilateral partners on a bilateral conversation because what we see as county revenue here, is negligible in the whole scheme of things. Even as we resource these counties from our monies, we should call upon counties to reimagine how they approach their county economics and economic blocs would be one of those things. As was moved by Hon. Chairman, it is now incumbent upon counties to take this up so that they can spur development in their counties. They also need to check what is provided for in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda so that what they are doing is in line with what the national Government is doing so that there is no competition in carrying out some projects and that there is also no duplication of roads. This Bill provides for conditional allocations as financed from the national Government in the First Schedule. In the Second Schedule, it provides for what is coming from the Roads Maintenance Fuel Levy. In the Third Schedule, there is that which is coming from court fines. Finally, royalties from mining and other natural resources is what is carried in this Bill. That said, I would like to second. Thank you very much."
},
{
"id": 1464056,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464056/?format=api",
"text_counter": 391,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Question proposed)"
},
{
"id": 1464057,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464057/?format=api",
"text_counter": 392,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda, Member for Bondo, do you want to speak to this?"
},
{
"id": 1464058,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464058/?format=api",
"text_counter": 393,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Bondo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Yes. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. This is a good effort in terms of showing Kenyans that counties get much more money, regardless of whether their functions are done by themselves and are funded by themselves or from different sources. It is a very good indication that we are not only talking about the Ksh380 billion, and if Hon. Chairman went further to put all these additions together, we would have seen that county governments are getting a lot much more than what is indicated many times. However, the clean-up is not complete in terms of these other sources, particularly from the national Government. The national Government spends money on fertiliser whereas fertiliser is in agriculture and this is devolved. What amount of money is in that? This is not yet clear. If you also look at the many Regional or Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs) that are funded by the national Government, they are doing county functions. The Lake Basin Development Authority and many of these regional development authorities are basically doing functions that are supposed to be county functions and yet are funded by the National Government. If we put all those together, definitely there is a lot more money that goes to county governments. The other thing that Hon. Chairman may need to hear is in terms of where the national Government and county governments are co-matching, particularly he mentioned, health. We need to ask ourselves for how long is the national Government going to support Community Health The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1464059,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464059/?format=api",
"text_counter": 394,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Bondo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Promoters? Is it going to be an annual ritual event that the national Government must give money to support Community Health Promoters?"
},
{
"id": 1464060,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464060/?format=api",
"text_counter": 395,
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"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Hon. John Kiarie consulted the Temporary Speaker (Hon. Peter Kaluma))"
},
{
"id": 1464061,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464061/?format=api",
"text_counter": 396,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Bondo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, do you want me to repeat that? The Seconder is keeping you busy. There are these things that the national Government and county government are co-funding, such as the industrial parks and Community Health Promoters. On industrial parks, we have said that we are going to make sure that the ones that were started are complete and that is fine. However, on Community Health Promoters, we are taking half. If we are taking half, we need to indicate to ourselves for how long we want to do this. Is it going to be an annual national ritual thing to support Community Health Promoters when we know very clearly that this is supposed to be done by county governments? That is another critical area in terms of cleaning the amount of money that get to county governments. The other thing is the sustainability of these Community Health Promoters. If the national Government pulls out its bit, what happens to them? This is a very critical question that we must answer ourselves. On industrial parks, let us say the national Government puts in Ksh250 million for the 18, and on the other side, the county government does not place their Ksh250 million because it is not a priority to them at that particular time, what happens? What happens to those counties that this is a priority to them, yet they are not in the 18 that we started with? These are areas we may need to check. At the end of it all, can we do some analysis in terms of where this money goes? A county may be in the 18 for purposes of the industrial parks, then the same county is in for some grants and some money from a different source. Where are we? Are we able to check that? I see that certain counties may be left behind while others may be getting much more in the end, thereby bringing in some inequalities. If you look at grants for the last five years, the ones that we have had have been going to particular counties over the years, whether it is urban development or those things that are supported by grants. If those areas also get fertiliser, industrial park and another, what happens to the other areas? That is a very critical thing that needs to be looked at. The other issue is on royalties. Hon. Chairman mentioned that this has not been very clear. But there are areas where many things are happening in the name of mining, whether artisanal or not. Look at the amount of money that is generated from “explorative or explorations” in gold and artisanal mining in gold in Kakamega, Siaya, Bondo, Migori and the rest. It is quite a huge amount of money. Where do we bring in these counties? At what stage are we able to check through all these things so that the people who are doing it get to know that they are supposed to be paying royalties to the county government? That is another critical thing that we need to look at clearly. The issue of court fines and stuff like that has been very clear, because initially there were municipal courts. However, there are areas where there are no municipal courts and their money is swallowed and goes as part of the Judiciary to the Consolidated Fund. This needs to be streamlined so that counties can have these as their own sources of revenue moving forward. Therefore, I support this. However, I believe that a bit of effort is required as we move forward."
}
]
}