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{
"id": 1502732,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502732/?format=api",
"text_counter": 164,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Okenyuri",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Members who sat to mediate over this issue, from our side of the Senate, I see very good brains. Even on the other side of the National Assembly, we have people like one Hon. (Dr.) John Chikati, who was my former boss at my previous workplace. Interestingly, mediation offers a chance for us to cede ground on some of the issues that we would have not otherwise considered. I have had an opportunity to serve on at least three mediation committees. Therefore, I know the intrigues that go on. Gladly, we have this version, so that we can have our counties in full operation. I do not want to dwell much on the issue of figures. Shareable revenue is one of the Senate’s core mandates, but I want to look at other issues. Once money is sent to the counties, what do they do with it? When I was looking at some of the observations and recommendations in this Report, there is a recommendation that counties need to have a bigger look at their own sources of revenue. Currently, their own sources of revenue is way lower than what is expected. To give you an example, if you go to a place like Kajiado County, a case in point Ongata Rongai, if you meet county officials, they will charge you for a service, but put that money in their pockets. You do not see any kind of accountability. In that case, that is money lost. The 47 county governments need to prioritise, especially giving training to their officers in charge of revenue collection. The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) has given guidelines on how they need to go about that. This is a progressive way of curbing losses, especially in revenue collection. Training also needs to happen for the management and policymakers in that sector. We need to generally engage all sectors, so that we do not face hostility when we encourage collection of more revenue in form of taxes. When you encourage all stakeholders in a particular county, you are less likely to face resistance. My colleague, Sen. Cherarkey, was very angry because of the kind of corruption at the chiefs’ offices. I need him to be angrier and call out corruption in all quarters and not just in the county governments. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when you look at the way spending is done at the county governments, you conclude that the spending is not meant to help normal citizens, but the political class. You will find a budget done for a leadership training that was undertaken in Dubai for people going to study about poverty alleviation in another country. Do you need to go to another country to study how they are alleviating poverty? We have our own case in Kenya. Those are situations that surround us on a daily basis. When you look at most of the indexes we are looking at in subdividing this money, the health index is the most critical. However, most county governments are less prioritising this sector. As a Parliament, we have passed so many laws that need to support the health sector to work very well. The other time we passed a Facility Improvement Fund (FIF) legislation. There was legislation enabling the surrounding persons to have a committee in their local dispensary that provides oversight. Citizens need to know that they are equal partakers of what is currently happening. In as much as we are calling out the political class, the citizens also need to know that the political class we have is a representation of who they are. If citizens want change, they need to start looking carefully at the kind of leaders they elect. That is why I 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."
},
{
"id": 1502733,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502733/?format=api",
"text_counter": 165,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Okenyuri",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "was very excited when Senators in this House supported my Bill on civic education. I believe an informed citizenry is able to make right decisions for themselves and the kind of leadership they want. The other issue I want to major on is agriculture now that we have the rains. There are several initiatives that the Government has done. We have subsidised fertiliser and these are opportunities farmers need to take advantage of. I know the Kenya Seed Company Limited has been doing piloting in certain counties. There are counties which have made a milestone and gone ahead to have collaboration with the Kenya Seed Company Limited to promote their farmers. I encourage other county chief officers to borrow these and implement in their own counties. It is one way of making citizens self- reliant. Kenyans have the energy to go to their farms and till land, make money for themselves, and also contribute to the national economy. The other issue is on the general population. You go to certain counties where the poverty rate is around 49 per cent, but when you look at their priorities towards addressing the poverty rate, you get saddened by the way they are thinking of the wrong things. As members of the political class and citizens, we need to seriously think about this. Why are we glorifying corruption? It is not for the county chiefs. The moment you receive a handout from someone who has taken a bigger portion from you, you are glorifying whatever they are doing. In civilised states, I see corrupt people being executed. However, in Kenya, we glorify those people seriously. Any attempt to speak negatively about such actions would make you very unpopular. I want Kenyans, especially the young people, to know that the future is not anticipating to come any other time soon. The future is now. Young people comprise majority of the numbers in this country. Women are most affected when tragedy strikes. There are children who we struggle daily to secure their future. These are some of the special interest groups we need to look at when we want to perpetuate actions that are always pushing them to the corner. In as much as there is clamour for more money to counties, I wish they would spend the money better. It is not just about getting more money, but spending this money better. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, finally, I mentioned that we already have current laws that Parliament has passed. Why do we not make use of such laws? We should not make laws to just exist on paper. We should enforce this law, so that any other time we are legislating, people can see change happening. This will ensure that every other Parliament that comes here shall not keep lamenting about the same issues. At least this time round the National Assembly did not want to arm-twist and show the normal rivalry that happens between the National Assembly and the Senate. That shows that we are at a time where people and leaders want to put their heads together, so that we solve the challenges we are facing as a country. With those remarks, I wish to support my colleagues who sat and actually crafted this. I also wish that this passes so that counties can get resources to continue with their activities. However, I want to warn the county chiefs against wasting such money, because when you waste such money, you are putting the lives of so many other people at risk. 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."
},
{
"id": 1502734,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502734/?format=api",
"text_counter": 166,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Okenyuri",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Many people are not accessing affordable healthcare so many years after we passed the 2010 Constitution, in order to have devolved governments bringing services closer to the people. We did not want to have corruption affecting people at that local level. I support this Report. I thank you."
},
{
"id": 1502735,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502735/?format=api",
"text_counter": 167,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kisang",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 2263,
"legal_name": "William Kipkemoi Kisang",
"slug": "william-kipkemoi-kisang"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I also rise to support this mediated version of the Division of Revenue Bill. It is not lost to all of us, as Senators or even Members of the National Assembly, that the reason we are in this particular situation - although we had earlier passed the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) and County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) - is because of what happened on the 25th and 26th June, 2024, the Finance Bill had to be shelved and withdrawn. This has caused the reduction of the shareable revenue to the counties to Kshs387.425 billion from Kshs400 billion, which all of us, as Senators, had passed. We had agreed that we wanted to give more to the counties because of several reasons. One of the reasons was the housing levy. Basically, the counties were also contributing the counterpart portion of the 1.5 per cent of the housing levy from employees. Another portion that the counties were contributing is to NSSF, because the NSSF is a pension fund. Basically, what the employees are contributing, the employers are also expected to contribute. That is what occasioned also the reduction of the amount the counties were using on the development budget. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is good to give credit to our colleagues, especially the Senators who were in that Committee. The team from National Assembly, especially the Co-chair of that team, was very adamant that Kshs380 billion was going to be enough to go to the counties. That would have been very sad because last Financial Year, 2023/2024, what was sent to the counties was Kshs385.425 billion, and it would have occasioned a reduction from what they got last year. The difference is Kshs2.5 billion from last year's amount. I believe it will enable the governors to sort out the expenses on the housing levy, NSSF contributions and also their counterparts; the Kshs2.5 million that they will contribute to pay the Community Health Promoters (CHP) as their portion. I believe the national Government will continue to contribute the other half of the stipend to our Community Health Promoters (CHP). These CHPs are the ones who are helping the counties and the national Government in rolling out the famous Taifa Care. This will enable our people to get services in the medical field under the Social Health Authority (SHA) and Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is not easy. We know we are facing challenges. The President was very clear when he spoke on Thursday as he was giving the State of the Nation Address. He stated that when the Kenya Kwanza Government came into power, there were many challenges. He also gave us a warning then that at the beginning, we will go through many challenges, but in due course, things will change for the better. We have been told that as of September last year, the inflation rate was 9.6 per cent, and as of October this year, it has dropped from 9.6 to 2.7 per cent. I know Kenyans are asking why are we not feeling this drop in inflation. There are many factors. 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."
},
{
"id": 1502736,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502736/?format=api",
"text_counter": 168,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kisang",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 2263,
"legal_name": "William Kipkemoi Kisang",
"slug": "william-kipkemoi-kisang"
},
"content": "We thank God that the rains have continued for long. Our people across the country have food and the rains are also continuing. We continue to tell them to plough and grow plants, so that at least the basic needs such as food, are put on the table. I believe this is one of the key reasons the inflation rate has dropped from 9.6 to 2.7. They said this is the highest drop in 17 years. It is good news. I believe by next year, we are going to feel the effects of this drop in inflation rate. There are many other issues that we were said during that State of the Nation Address, which are also related to this particular mediated version of the Bill. There is a lot of wastage and corruption, both at the national and county level. We want to warn the governors, and especially the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). We expect the ‘big fish’ to be arrested. We want investigations to be done. Why are there files lying at EACC for the last five or 10 years or the last six months? As the President said, our Petitions at the Judiciary take only six months. Why are we not able to prosecute corruption cases at the same time? Why is EACC not able to investigate within a short time? Take the file to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), take people to court and let them set an example. As my colleagues have said, in China, if you are found to be corrupt, you are executed. Perhaps we need to review our Constitution and see if this can be brought back. If the resources that we are sending to the counties and what remains at the national Government are used prudently, then we should not be borrowing. We should be using our Pension Funds to do private-public projects. Why are we going to India or China? We should use our Pension Funds, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) and Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPFUND), to do all these things. If you go outside here, you will see the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Pension has put up a building and Teleposta was put up by a Postal Pension Scheme. Let us use these Pension Funds to fund projects within the country. The moment we use the Kenyan Shilling, we will not have that problem of foreign exchange issues. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I read the Report in the course of the week that the reason our loans are not coming down, and are rather growing day by day, is because of the exchange rate. Luckily, now the exchange rate to the Dollar is Kshs129. It came down from Kshs162, a drop of 20 per cent. We thank God and the policy because, the Shilling has strengthened and stabilized due to the policy changes that they have put in place. When the Shilling is stable, at least it is predictable. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are some organizations, especially the national Government, that are digitized. When the Kenya Kwanzaa Government came into power, they said that they had only digitized about 5,000 services. Now, there are 20,000, which is 6,000 per cent. There is growth of revenue. Why are our governors not digitizing their services, to seal leakages of revenue? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Technology, and we have done an inquiry. We are going to travel to about four counties this weekend, to see the systems that they are using. When you 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."
},
{
"id": 1502737,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502737/?format=api",
"text_counter": 169,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kisang",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 2263,
"legal_name": "William Kipkemoi Kisang",
"slug": "william-kipkemoi-kisang"
},
"content": "digitize, you reduce, minimize wastages, and seal leakages, just the way the national Government has done, and revenue has grown by 6,000 per cent. Last week, we were told by His Excellency the President that the Kenya Wildlife Service’s (KWS’s) revenue grew from Kshs4 billion to approximately Kshs7 billion, using e-Citizen. Soon, they will not need any money from the Exchequer. We want to reach a level where our counties are not relying on the shareable revenue. That should be coming to do development projects. The county governments are relying on shareable revenue to pay salaries, buy medicine, do infrastructure projects, and what is barely left, in most of the counties, the resources that go to development are less than 10 per cent. So, basically, our counties are like an employment bureau. Recently, as the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, we went to Wajir County. Apart from the County assembly that is being built and the Governor's office, you do not see anything else. When you move around, you do not see much. This is replicated everywhere in Kenya, apart from maybe the resources they get directly from donors, like the World Bank to do the roads in the major towns within the counties. Otherwise, there is nothing else. They have built Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centres for the last 12 years. Counties are just using money to build Early Childhood Education classrooms. In Elgeyo-Marakwet County, I have not seen anything much that has been done. We were in Turkana County last year for Senate Mashinani . The Governor's office has been built for the last 12 years. It is not complete, yet they have spent over a billion to do a small thing. The same applies to Tharaka-Nithi County. The other day we were told they got money from conditional grants, but the buildings are not complete. So, we want the governors to digitize their services to seal leakages. Our business community, especially the transporters, have multiple levies. You transport a bag of sand from Makueni County, you pay levies, you come to Machakos County, you pay levies; you come to Nairobi City County, you pay levies. Our governors need to digitize and use their resources well, so that our people can benefit properly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I believe we need to increase our oversight role. We need to visit the counties and partner with MCAs, so that we ensure the executives at the counties do proper implementation of projects and they put in enough resources to complete projects within one or two financial years. This will be so that projects do not go on and when a new governor comes in, he shelves the projects that were started by the predecessor and eventually, no one benefits. On the RMLF, I agree with the governors. I know they have gone to court. This is money we should not give to MPs. The business of the National Assembly is the same as Senators; to do legislation, oversight and representation. Anything that touches development should be done by the national executive or the county executives. These funds should be given directly to the governors. With those few remarks, I support and ask colleagues to support, so that by the time we go for our long recess, the governors can access more resources and the Controller of Budget (CoB) should expedite and release resources to counties by approving. I thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. 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."
},
{
"id": 1502738,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502738/?format=api",
"text_counter": 170,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abdul Haji",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Sen. Onyonka, I would like to give you to contribute on this matter, but Sen. Mariam has been here waiting the whole morning. If we can agree I give Sen. Mariam 10 minutes and you finish with the rest of the time. Sen. Mariam, you have 10 minutes."
},
{
"id": 1502739,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502739/?format=api",
"text_counter": 171,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mariam Omar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving this opportunity. I stand to support this mediated Division of Revenue Bill. Firstly, I acknowledge and thank Members of the Committee led by the Co-Chair, my party leader in United Democratic Movement (UDM), Captain Ali Roba, for his leadership in coming up with this Bill. This sharing of revenue is only 15 per cent, 85 per cent is under the national government. This 15 per cent usually goes to counties and out of that, 30 per cent is for development and 70 per cent for recurrent expenditure. However, what is going on now is totally different because 80 per cent is used for recurrent. Instead of 30 per cent, they are using 15 per cent for development. That means development is minimal. Since the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024, there has been a shortfall. Governors should also streamline their expenditure. That is why, from Kshs400 billion, it was reduced to Kshs384 billion. That means that county governments should also be straightforward in utilizing their projects. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when we reduce from Kshs400 billion to Kshs384 billion, let us also remind ourselves that there are additional funds for counties. There is the housing levy, SHIF, National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and industrial parks. As much as there is additional expenditure, we need to prioritize our projects. When we pass these bills, it means that we are taking care of devolution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am saying this because devolution is working. I can prove that in Mandera County. Currently, under the Equalisation Fund, we are referring all the sub-county hospital surgeries to the Mandera County Referral Hospital, as well as in the towns of Takaba and Banisa. This shows that devolution is working. Also, since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have properly maintained our Intensive Care Units in Mandera County. This means that devolution is working. In the collection of revenue, counties have to put a strong mechanism in place to increase their revenue collection. Governors should not rely solely on the national Government. The governor must prioritise projects because what we need currently is a major dam. We do not have to wait for the national Government to complete our project. For how long? The governor, as the CEO of the county government, must sit down and focus on the priorities. This is so that, at least during the rainy season, the rainwater is not wasted. We have to harvest water. Governors sometimes do national projects instead of county development. For instance, imagine a governor constructing a secondary school classroom, whereas there is a small project of building a maternity ward. This scenario shows that they are prioritising the national Government project instead of the county project. In some counties, medical equipment cannot be used because of a minor power connection by Kenya Power. What a shame! It is unfortunate that the national 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."
},
{
"id": 1502740,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502740/?format=api",
"text_counter": 172,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mariam Omar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Government gives counties equipment, only for the governor to sit down, wrap his hands together, and wait for the national Government to connect the equipment. The county governments must sit down and think of what to do to complete and prioritise their project. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank you and support."
},
{
"id": 1502741,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502741/?format=api",
"text_counter": 173,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abdul Haji",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Senator. Sen. Onyonka, proceed."
}
]
}