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{
"id": 1550612,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550612/?format=api",
"text_counter": 543,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
"speaker": null,
"content": "This Division of Revenue Bill must take into account and kill this new concept of pending bills. Governors are out there accumulating pending bills because they want to play politics. Ministries accumulate pending bills because they do not want to pay before being offered a bribe. These are among certain issues that frustrate business people. Young business people are frustrated. Big businesses are collapsing because those currently in office deliberately refuse to pay them if they were doing business with the previous regime and therefore say, “ wacha akae kando” . This kind of thinking is so mundane and immature; thus, perpetuity in Government is important. If I come in as governor and somebody supplied to the county, I carry over and pay them, then we move on. On the contrary, we have people begging governors and principal secretaries for payment over goods or services they supplied or constructed, among other things, yet we approved the Division of Revenue Bill in this House. We approve budgets for these people to be paid and ensure that this country runs efficiently. However, one individual accumulates pending bills out of bad behaviour on flimsy political grounds. Governors are not paying officers. They are not accountants. We have people who have been given the responsibility to make payments, but these days, governors keep lists of who they will pay. You have to see the governor for you to be paid. This is bad manners, which is leading to the accumulation of pending bills. These pending bills will ground this country one day. As Members of this House and as leaders, we need to be careful to ensure that pending bills are removed from budgets. If you accumulate pending bills, you must know how to pay, and it should be one of the grounds for impeachment of these leaders to ensure that discipline is maintained. Why allocate money to a governor accumulating up to Ksh4 billion pending bills? Why did we sit here long hours to…"
},
{
"id": 1550613,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550613/?format=api",
"text_counter": 544,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Hon. Owen Baya’s microphone went off)"
},
{
"id": 1550614,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550614/?format=api",
"text_counter": 545,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Allow me one more minute."
},
{
"id": 1550615,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550615/?format=api",
"text_counter": 546,
"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": " You have exactly one minute."
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{
"id": 1550616,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550616/?format=api",
"text_counter": 547,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
"speaker": null,
"content": " One minute, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Why did we sit here long hours to pass the Division of Revenue Bill if you will mutilate the Budget and do things that are not within the Budget? A lot of these pending bills are not in the Budget. We give you a budget, but you instead mutilate it and spend it not as stipulated, and then accumulate huge debts only to end up asking for more money to pay the pending bills. A budget is a law. When we approve the Division of Revenue Bill, it becomes a law, and it must be respected. Anybody who does not respect the law we pass should face the consequences. They should be taken to Court to explain why they did not implement the law or flagrantly ignored it because it is a law. Anybody who goes outside the Budget that we pass in this House should be held accountable and responsible for it. We must bring fiscal discipline to this country because if we pass..."
},
{
"id": 1550617,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550617/?format=api",
"text_counter": 548,
"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. Dido Raso."
},
{
"id": 1550618,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550618/?format=api",
"text_counter": 549,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Saku, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ali Raso",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. At the outset, let me thank the new Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairperson for his exposition on this particular Bill. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I decided to contribute to this Bill because I come from Marsabit. We get an allocation of close to Ksh9 billion. With other additional allocations, it could run to the tune of Ksh11 billion. Today, workers in the county government of Marsabit can run for 3 or 4 months without being paid, and I wonder what the problem could be. Is it about the allocation? Is it about the money delaying in those counties, or people are diverting these resources? Hon. Temporary Speaker, when we look at this Bill, the anchor is the national interest to have a prosperous, stable country that can govern itself and run its affairs. The absence of 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": 1550619,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550619/?format=api",
"text_counter": 550,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Saku, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ali Raso",
"speaker": null,
"content": "resources simply means that it will be unattainable. What could be exacerbating the debt burden? Both internal and external debt is not going down. Is it because of seepage? Is it because of wastage? Or is it because of sheer mismanagement of our economy? Recently, Kenyans were on the streets looking for employment. Yesterday, doctors blocked the gates of Parliament, demanding additional pay and extra allowances. They are among the underpaid workers. They work for long hours and attend to emergencies. They do many things, especially in far-flung places. Unless we grow the tax base, it is impossible to run this economy without borrowing. There is a famous saying that when you are in a hole, do not continue digging. The more you dig, the more you sink. In this Bill, the National Treasury proposes to allocate a certain amount of the shareable revenue to county governments. However, the CRA says we must give counties additional funds. Are we running two governments in Kenya? Are we not running a holistic government where the left and the right understand each other? CRA should understand that the National Treasury does not meet revenue targets. The Chairman of the Committee said we are using the audited accounts for the 2021/2022 Financial Year. The Leader of the Majority Party has addressed that matter. Although we cannot achieve 100 per cent, we should, as much as possible, give ourselves a timeline so that we do not find ourselves out of target in two years. Look at inflation and the international money system. Many things will change in any country in the world in two years, let alone four or five years. For that reason, we have to be fair to the county governments. We must be fair as lawmakers who allocate resources. Honourable colleagues have talked about the Equalisation Fund. Article 204 of the Constitution is very clear. The Fund is to address inequality in this country. It is meant to address only four major areas: electricity, water, roads and health. When the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party is allocated Ksh2 million for his constituency, what is it supposed to be used for? If Saku is allocated Ksh20 million, what should the money be used for to meet the threshold of equality? Without buttressing what colleagues have said, we must begin to relook at the Fund. It has been diverted from the original thinking by the framers of the Constitution. It is no longer about equalisation. It is about penny pocketing, that is, giving everybody something small so that everybody is happy. Those whom the Fund was meant for in the first place still suffer and lag. For those of us who come from arid and semi-arid lands and the pastoral communities in the 15 counties, this Equalisation Fund was meant to bring us up to speed with the rest of Kenya and the other 32 counties. We do not have enough schools, roads or health facilities. Many things are still a burden to our people. However, when you look at the current system of sharing the Equalisation Fund, somebody will say that some funds should go to Embakasi Constituency because it has the Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum, some funds should go to Kibra Constituency because it is a slum, or some funds should go to Murang’a County because there is a pocket where there is a slum. There is a difference between planned, structured, well-articulated marginalisation and self-inflicted marginalisation. Any marginalisation in Nairobi County is self-inflicted marginalisation. Why would Mukuru Kwa Njenga, which borders affluent estates both to the east and the south, be a slum? I advise the Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairperson to start a serious debate, particularly with those of us from the ASALs, so that we give our input and state clearly that the Equalisation Fund is not helping us. Let this money remain in the Consolidated Fund until we can agree on the way forward. Finally, there is the issue of pending bills. I am happy that the Leader of the Majority Party has talked about it. Pending bills will kill devolution in the counties. I am told that people are paying “air” rather than paying those who do the real jobs. Many businesses are closing down. People who borrowed money from banks are being declared bankrupt."
},
{
"id": 1550620,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550620/?format=api",
"text_counter": 551,
"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": " Give him one minute to conclude. 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": 1550621,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550621/?format=api",
"text_counter": 552,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Saku, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ali Raso",
"speaker": null,
"content": " People are losing their life savings. People retire from the civil service and get a contract with the county to put up a facility, but they are not paid. When they go back to the bank, they are told that the bank will hold back what they have invested. That issue, just like the Equalisation Fund, should not be treated like a walk in the park. We must take the bull by the horns and address it. With those few remarks, thank you for indulging me, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I support the Bill."
}
]
}