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{
"id": 1464092,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464092/?format=api",
"text_counter": 427,
"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"
},
"content": " Hon. Naisula Lesuuda. 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": 1464093,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464093/?format=api",
"text_counter": 428,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Samburu West, KANU",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Naisula Lesuuda",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. You had earlier on mentioned that I am a Senior Counsel, and I was seeing Hon. Njeri looking at me wondering when I became one."
},
{
"id": 1464094,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464094/?format=api",
"text_counter": 429,
"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": " The manner in which you executed your mandate in the Committee on Appointments could only measure to the standard of a Senior Counsel."
},
{
"id": 1464095,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464095/?format=api",
"text_counter": 430,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Samburu West, KANU",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Naisula Lesuuda",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you. I take that as a compliment, and maybe in the next life… I rise to support the consideration of the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill (Senate Bill No.19 of 2024). We are debating this matter when, as a country, we have rationalised the Budget that we just passed in this House the other day. Most Kenyans do not even know about these funds. They only know about the shareable revenue that goes to the counties. Most Kenyans do not know that there are additional funds from the national Government and donors that go to the counties. It is important that this conversation is going on in this House so that Kenyans know that there is extra money beyond the shareable revenue that goes to our counties. It is also evident that when most Kenyans are not enlightened on these matters, it becomes the governors’ kitty or their money because no one knows anything about it. Many people just know about the shareable revenue. So, it is just the governors who know about these funds, and nobody really questions how the implementation of these projects is done. It is important that Kenyans know that, for example, a county like mine, Samburu, receives a total of Ksh500 million additional funds over and above the shareable revenue. This ranges from money for the Community Health Promoters, the Matching Fund that national Government is giving shilling by shilling, and the mineral royalties. I am certain that there are too many people in Samburu County who do not know that in the Financial Year 2023/2024, Samburu County received Ksh900,000. This financial year, we are not clear on the royalties. Why is Samburu County receiving royalties worth a paltry Ksh17,000 in the Financial Year 2024/2025? With all the minerals in our county, why would Samburu County be receiving Ksh17,000? Actually, it is a joke. What will Samburu County do with Ksh17,000 as royalty? There is also additional donor funding that includes locust money. We need to know what locust money does. As you may know, locusts left the country. So, we need to know what the money for locusts in Samburu County is going to do. We do not want any money to be used as somebody's kitty in the counties. There is also money for food resilience, devolution support, and Kenya Urban Support Programme. All these things are additional revenues to our counties. Having said that, it is important that, as a country, we have a serious conversation and bite the bullet. If we embraced devolution, then we need to review whether we actually devolved all the functions and if funds follow those functions. We cannot continue to have a situation where the national Government gives counties money when it feels like. If a function is devolved, its funds should be devolved fully by the national Government. We cannot live with this fallacy that it is only in the county governments that governors abet corruption. Corruption is also happening at the national Government. So, if funds do not follow functions because they will be misappropriated at the county level, they can also be misappropriated at the national level. That is why sometimes you hear people saying that corruption is devolved. If funds are being misappropriated at the national level, they can even be better misappropriated at the county level. So, as a country, we must have a conversation. If a function has been devolved, let all of its funds be devolved as well. Perhaps, why health is not working in counties is because of not giving enough resources to the functions 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": 1464096,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464096/?format=api",
"text_counter": 431,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Samburu West, KANU",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Naisula Lesuuda",
"speaker": null,
"content": "that have been devolved. So, let us make sure that funds follow functions that have been devolved in our country. The second thing that this Bill will take care of is ensuring that projects are completed. I like it now that we have reduced the industrial parks. Even though Samburu wants an industrial park, I would rather we have 18 complete and functional industrial parks in this country as opposed to small incomplete industrial parks across the country. That way, we will get value for money. We should finish a project and have it in use so that we get value for money. The other important thing that we must have a conversation on, as a country, is killing of public facilities. What happened in the health sector with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF)? We made sure that our public facilities are dead so that Kenyans could go to private facilities. The public funds in the NHIF are utilised in the private hospitals. So, our public facilities continue to die. Our public health is dead. What I hope is – and that is why I was raising the issue of the higher education funding model – that, as a country, we do not kill our public universities as we have done to our public hospitals. If we kill public universities, children will go to private universities and the funding model will channel money to private universities. We have to be serious as a country so that our public institutions work and serve Kenyans. Not everybody can afford private universities. Lastly on this issue, I have heard debates on whether governors should be executives or should be elected. We crossed that bridge and we decided we want them elected. I find that we have a challenge of immediate governors running for the Senate. How do you have a governor who has just left office being elected as a senator? Probably, he or she will chair the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the Senate where his or her audited accounts will be considered. How logical will that be? Laws are made. As we implement them, we become progressive so that we see what works and what does not. I will look into that Act and bring amendments to it. If you want to run for Senate, you should at least wait for five or 10 years after your term as governor. This will enable the Senate to look at all your audited accounts. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) can also look at your record to ascertain if you misappropriated the funds of that county, before you find yourself in the Senate auditing yourself as the Chairperson of PAC. This was something that was not thought through when we came up with our Constitution. But, as I have said, as we implement the Act, we should look at what needs to be corrected because we will find many governors running to the Senate to protect themselves. With those very many remarks, I support the Bill."
},
{
"id": 1464097,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464097/?format=api",
"text_counter": 432,
"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"
},
"content": " Hon. Jared Okello, do you want to speak to this Bill for five minutes?"
},
{
"id": 1464098,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464098/?format=api",
"text_counter": 433,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okello",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I want to add my voice to the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill (Senate Bill No.19 of 2024). We are here as a result of what happened two months ago. Whereas people castigate the Generation Z who were involved in what happened, I look at it positively. They created a separate path for oversight of our country's governance. We would not be here. There would not have been changes occasioned at the Cabinet had it not been for Generation Z coming out to shine bright light on the dark corners of our governance. Our counties have done a great job so far. However, there are also pitfalls that need to be looked into. The idea of having county governments emanated from discrimination of certain areas. Devolution was brought forth to try and create a level of equity and correct certain ills that had 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": 1464099,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464099/?format=api",
"text_counter": 434,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okello",
"speaker": null,
"content": "been perpetuated in the past. Our counties grapple with pending bills. I do not know where we lost the mark. The NG-CDF is one of the devolved funds that attract no pending bills at all. No one is engaged, until money is available. You cannot have a supplier or contractor on site under the NG- CDF until money is brought into the constituency. How did we lose this? Governors and their county executive committees sit down and allocate contracts based on monies they do not have. At the end of the day, they lump up bills. What stops an outgoing governor from engaging contractors and suppliers, getting his kickbacks, and then retiring? Nothing can stop it. If you visit all our counties, you will be confronted by pending bills running into billions, yet nothing has been done on the ground. How do we correct these ills moving forward? Some Governors have become lazy. There are Exchequer releases. Today we are also talking about additional funding to counties. We are looking at sources from court fines. We are looking at counties getting royalties from minerals available within them. What stops a governor from just sitting pretty and waiting for these monies? Why can they not become innovative enough to add additional revenue streams into their systems? Governors also need to wake up to the reality and expand their revenue streams to fund their projects without necessarily waiting for Exchequer releases. The Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) and all the other obstacles on the way confront the Exchequer. It has been said enough times that the little money that goes into constituencies in terms of project implementation is what can be seen on the ground. Counties attract billions from both their revenue and the Exchequer. However, I can tell you there is nothing substantial they do that one can write home about. Our hospitals are still confronted by a lack of medicines. Their doctors and nurses have to go on strike to be paid. Some of these counties have not paid salaries dating back six months yet billions are channelled there. The genesis upon which county governments were enacted is being lost on the way. You are piling more problems on the people, unlike their situations before. Even as a House, we are intending to add more money to counties. Everybody needs to be moral enough and come up with what we call financial probity where accountability becomes the centre stage of transactions. Otherwise, the main and very noble idea is being lost. That is the tragedy we have as a nation."
},
{
"id": 1464100,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464100/?format=api",
"text_counter": 435,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okello",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I support this Bill."
},
{
"id": 1464101,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464101/?format=api",
"text_counter": 436,
"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"
},
"content": " Hon. Omboko Milemba."
}
]
}