HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=159555",
"previous": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=159553",
"results": [
{
"id": 1613732,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613732/?format=api",
"text_counter": 151,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "The Deputy Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": "This Motion has not been amended. It is the original Motion. Sen. Omogeni Eric, proceed."
},
{
"id": 1613733,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613733/?format=api",
"text_counter": 152,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move- THAT the Motion be amended by deleting the words- “County Allocation = (Baseline Allocation Ratio*Ksh.387.425 billion) + (Kshs2 billion shared equally among the identified 11 counties) + {[(0.45*Population Index) + (0.35*Equal Share Index) + (0.12*Poverty Index) + (0.08*Geographical Size Index)] *Additional County Equitable Share above Ksh. 389.425 billion}.” appearing after the word “as follows-” and substituting thereof with the following words- “County Allocation = (Baseline Allocation Ratio*Ksh.387.425 billion) + (Kshs4.46 billion shared equally among the identified 11 counties) + {[(0.45*Population Index) + (0.35*Equal Share Index) + (0.12*Poverty Index) + (0.08*Geographical Size Index)] *Additional County Equitable Share above Ksh. 391.89 billion}.” Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to go on record in support of the report of the Committee on Finance and Budget, as amended by the proposed Motion currently on the Floor. I begin by thanking the Chairperson of this Committee, Sen. Ali Roba, for developing a formula that does not elicit any controversy among the 47 Senate delegations. 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": 1613734,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613734/?format=api",
"text_counter": 153,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Many of us who served as Senators in the 12th Parliament recall that the issue of the revenue-sharing formula was highly contentious. We experienced a prolonged stalemate on the Floor of the House, voting more than 13 times before reaching a compromise. Therefore, we must commend the Committee for ensuring that this time, the process is less controversial and seeks to carry everybody on board. The amendment to the Motion that I have moved this afternoon seeks to carry along the 11 counties that are disadvantaged that get an allocation that does not allow them to perform their functions optimally. As we all know, Article 29 of our Constitution enshrines the spirit of affirmative action. Furthermore, when we allocate resources, it is important that we be sure that the resources we allocate to our counties will support our devolved units to perform their functions. The spirit behind these amendments is to ensure that our big, rich counties carry along the smaller, poor counties so that we all move together. I am moving this Motion with the hope that we are not going to agree with the resolution of the National Assembly that is setting the equitable share at Kshs405 billion. I believe that our revenue collection has gone up. We urge our brothers and sisters in the National Assembly to support us, so that we are able to support our devolved units. Secondly, I thank our current President, His Excellency Dr. William Ruto, for having given this House the independence to deal with this matter without any intimidation from the Executive. I am saying this very candidly because we always know when there is interference. The problem we had last time is that the Executive tried to micromanage Senators. I appeal to the Executive to keep that spirit, so that we can deal with this matter as Senators who carry along the interests of all the 47 devolved units. Having said that, we also know that when we had a stalemate last time, it took an act of statesmanship from two great individuals; former President - Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister - Raila Odinga. Sen. Wambua will bear me witness that the compromise that we reached on the Floor included a commitment from the Executive that they were going to give us an additional allocation of Kshs53.5 billion. We got that increase on one financial year. So, this debate we are having with the National Assembly saying that we cannot increase the equitable share from Kshs387 billion to Kshs465 billion is what our Chief Justice will call hot air because it has been done before and it can be done again. I hope that our brothers and sisters who will represent us in mediation will push to ensure that we get an allocation of Kshs465 billion. When you break down the amount that we have proposed to increase, it is merely by deleting the figure Kshs2 billion that had graciously been allocated to these counties by the Committee on Finance and Budget and substitute Kshs2 billion with Kshs4.6 billion. We are just increasing it by Kshs2.6 billion. If hon. Senators support, if this amendment carries the day, the position remains as it is currently. There is no county that will be disadvantaged in any way, but would have supported the 11 counties each to get a small increase of Kshs400 million. I want to agree with the submissions that were made by the Senator of Nairobi City County that this increase should be sector-specific allocation. We do not want to give this money to our counties and then we find that the absorption is to employ 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": 1613735,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613735/?format=api",
"text_counter": 154,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "relatives or friends of our governors. If we give this money to these 11 counties, it should be for sector-specific allocations, so that the money is used to spur development. If Governor Oparanya is doing a tarmac road from Kakamega to Vihiga County, if we give this money to the Governor for Vihiga, Hon. Otichilo, he should also do the tarmac road because that is the intention of this money. This is an affirmative initiative, so that the big counties do not move alone. If we want to connect these counties to do business, if Kakamega is doing a tarmac, let Vihiga do it and let Nyamira do the same. I am happy to report, for the comfort of this House, that the wars we have been seeing in Nyamira--- People may ask, if this money goes to Nyamira, which county assembly will appropriate it? Is it the one called mashinani, or is it the one that sits in the county headquarters? If you follow news, you must have read in The Standard newspaper of today, that yesterday, the High Court sitting in Bomet made a landmark decision and it nullified everything to do with Bunge Mashinani in Nyamira. Therefore, I want to assure Senators who will support this quest that the money that you will send to Nyamira will be appropriated by one county assembly sitting at the gazetted county assembly premises in Nyamira and not the one you have been seeing sitting in people's residences. I want to give that undertaking and I hope my Governor is watching these proceedings. We do not want that embarrassment. Yesterday, when I heard that rumour that a judgment had come out clarifying where the assembly should be sitting, I requested this Motion to be stepped down, so that I could deliver the good news to our hon. Senators. This is because we want this money to be used for the benefit of the people who reside in those 11 counties. In fact, we were proposing that if we are able to get this money for these 11 counties, we should have something we call action-taken reports. We must tell them to report back to us how they have used this money. The fear amongst us is to give money to our counties and then the money goes to the pockets of a few people and not for the benefit of people who reside in those counties. As I head towards concluding, I want to also tell the Senators that the people who enacted the 2010 Constitution had a lot of faith and trust in us elected parliamentarians. In India, when revenue is being shared between states and the union, the recommendation of the Finance Commission of India is final. However, luckily for us, when Kenyans enacted our 2010 Constitution, the last task of sharing revenue was placed in the hands of us, the elected leaders. Even if you go to Australia, I think they call it the Commonwealth Grants Commission of Australia. Once they make a recommendation on how money is to be shared between the union and the states, Parliament has no say. In this country, under Article 215, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) merely makes a recommendation. The people who have the last say, is us, Senators. I want to appeal to our colleagues, all the 47 Senators, to stand with your brothers and sisters from these 11 counties. Imagine while my brother, Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget and Senator for Mandera, gets a cool Kshs12 billion, our brother from Lamu gets Kshs3.2 billion. When you talk to the Senator for Lamu, he tells you that money barely pays salaries, fuels vehicles and if they are lucky, buy some medicine here and there, it gets depleted. The same applies to Isiolo County. If this 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": 1613736,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613736/?format=api",
"text_counter": 155,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Motion gets the support of Senators, we will be able to uplift some counties to a level that they can also try to bring developments to their regions. I want to remind our brothers from the arid, semi-arid and sparsely populated counties that the formula that we had here in 2019 - Sen. Wambua you can bear me witness - was exposing some of them to the risk of losing to the tune of up to Kshs2 billion. However, because we recognized, deliberately, that we were elected not just to fight for Nyamira, but to fight for all the 47 counties, we stood with our brothers to ensure that nobody was disadvantaged with that third revenue sharing formula. I urge our colleagues here to stand with the 11 counties, so that all of us 47 counties move together in the same spirit as Senators who are here to defend devolution and the functions that have been assigned to our devolved units. In conclusion, I also want to urge all the bodies that are tasked with ensuring that corruption does not get deeper roots in this country to create confidence within our counties. Action should be taken on those who misappropriate public money. We should see more people behind bars, so that there is deterrence. With those remarks, I kindly ask the Senator for Elgeyo Marakwet to second the Motion."
},
{
"id": 1613737,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613737/?format=api",
"text_counter": 156,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kisang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to second the Motion as amended. We want to thank the Committee on Finance and Budget for its wisdom. I remember that I was in the National Assembly with you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, during debate on the Third Basis and it was not easy for Members then to pass that particular formula because it was very divisive and basically it divided the country almost into two. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a retired Governor, Sen. Ali Roba, came with a lot of wisdom to the Committee on Finance and Budget and convinced his Members. He also listened to the governors from the 11 marginalized counties and listened to us, as Senators. This proposal to give Kshs4.6 billion to the 11 counties is a good compromise to assist the 11 counties to get resources to do some development. As Sen. Omogeni has said, we need to ensure that when the House approves, we ring-fence, so that the governors do not continue employing their relatives and spending these as a recurrent. Then at least, the 11 counties will have a minimum of the Kshs405 million that has been proposed to do something meaningful. In Elgeyo Marakwet County, we have 20 wards. If in each financial year, we take 10 out of our 20 wards and allocate Kshs40 million, then they can do something reasonable in each of the wards because what touches the mwananchi on the ground is health. Two or three weeks ago, we visited Kilifi, Mombasa and Kwale counties. The health situation is pathetic. Kilifi County was the only county out of the three that we visited that had a good system working. They have a good pharmaceutical system working and the people are doing well. However, I do not know what to say for the other two counties. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are asking and begging our colleagues to help us. This is the time to stand with your brothers and sisters in these 11 counties, so that devolution makes sense for them. Earlier this week, I said that there is nothing these 11 counties have done that can be seen. You can visit them and you will not see anything. I was even telling Sen. Wambua that when you go to Machakos, you will see a big 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": 1613738,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613738/?format=api",
"text_counter": 157,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kisang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "building. You will see tarmac in Kakamega. When Hon. Oparanya was the Governor, he did about 20 or 30 kilometres of tarmac. However, in Vihiga County, even murraming is a problem because those resources are not there. That is why this House should still insist that Kshs10 billion for RLMF should also go to the counties and be ring-fenced. As we give this additional Kshs405 million to the 11 counties, the Kshs10 million for the RLMF should also go to the counties so that they can do roads. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are asking to be supported. Please support our counties, so that we can actualize. If you look at Article 203(1)(g), it talks about economic disparities within and among counties and the need to remedy them. This affirmative action of Kshs405 million to the 11 counties will sort out this Article 203(1)(g) and at least we can remedy the economic activities of these 11 counties. As a Senate, we are not agreeing with the position that the National Assembly has taken, that our counties should get Kshs405 billion. Sometime last year, I remember when we were discussing these issues, we had given a proposal of Kshs415 billion to the counties and then it was reduced to Kshs380 billion. Eventually, there was a compromise of Kshs387 billion. Right now, they want to move it marginally by about Kshs17 billion to Kshs405 billion. Hon. Senators, let us be firm and stand with the Kshs465 billion, so that all counties move to Kshs6 billion. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we would like to urge our colleagues in the National Assembly that this revenue that will be shared from Financial Year 2025/2026, is based on audited reports of the Auditor-General for Financial Year 2020/2021. Why can the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) not fast-track the looking into these reports in order for us to be a year behind? If we are a year behind, we will not be crying for additional resources because we will be basing the revenue on the most recent. The national Government budget that will be read next week is Kshs4.2 trillion and counties are getting Kshs405 billion. If you calculate, it is less than 10 per cent and we are supposed to be getting a minimum of 15 per cent. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to second and ask our colleagues to please sympathize and empathize with us, in order for us to slowly develop our small and marginalized counties."
},
{
"id": 1613739,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613739/?format=api",
"text_counter": 158,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Question of the amendment proposed)"
},
{
"id": 1613740,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613740/?format=api",
"text_counter": 159,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "The Deputy Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I invite Senators to contribute to this Motion, not to the original Motion, but to this amendment moved by Sen. Okongó. If you did not get the import of the amendment, then we can benefit from the wisdom of the Chair of the Committee who will explain what had happened before, why the amendment has come and the consequences of it. I invite the Chair, Sen. Roba Ali Ibrahim."
},
{
"id": 1613741,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613741/?format=api",
"text_counter": 160,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Ali Roba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. The wisdom behind having a less controversial formula of sharing revenue amongst counties this time is informed by what preceded in the Third Senate; where there was a lot of controversy on the third basis of revenue sharing. As a result, a substantive number of counties lost. There was no 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."
}
]
}