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{
    "id": 1012526,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1012526/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 205,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "Regrettably, even the amendment to the Public Finance Management Act that we passed to facilitate disbursement of money in a situation where the Division of Revenue Bill is delayed because of disagreement, is yet to be considered by the Senate. I remember, Hon. Speaker, you had several sittings with the leadership of that House - and I was there - and we advised them to make amendments to include the County Allocation of Revenue Bill in that Bill and bring it to us so that the counties could receive the money as the Senate continued with their dillydallying and all the games they were playing before passage of the formula. Regrettably, up to now, that Bill is still lying in the Senate. I do not see it being passed soon. I think Kenyans need to start asking themselves, as we discuss the future governance structures of this country, what the Senate should be doing and what the National Assembly should be doing. If I were to be asked, I would say all money matters should be brought to this House so that we finish everything and allocate money to the counties while the Senate, on the other hand, conducts oversight without having to play all these games that leave people suffering. I do not want to say a lot because the debate here cannot help or change so much. I just want to underscore two things. County governments, at least, from where I come from, develop county annual development plans and county integrated development plans. They engage people through public participation. Then they prepare the approved development plans and annual county budgets. But when you look at what is actually happening on the ground, there is total variance between what the people wanted and what the governors want. Even as we put the limits which have been put here that you cannot spend so much on development and so much on recurrent expenditure, on the ground, things are different. When you add to this the poor governance structures and lack of oversight by members of county assemblies (MCAs), we have a problem. A half of MCAs are being controlled by the governors because they were nominated. They do not owe allegiance to the people but to the governors, hence instead of overseeing the county executive, they are leading the chorus for the passage of the budgets that are skewed towards areas that are politically correct for the governors. It is this clamour for equitable distribution that saw the Senate Bill No.34 on County Ward Development Fund being introduced in the Senate. But when it came here, it was not necessary. They were trying to solve the problem by creating a deeper problem. It was rejected by the House. I do not expect any different situation to emerge through the mediation process. I would want to urge the governors that we are watching; they should live within their oath of office and ensure there is equitable development in the entire counties regardless of the wards that support them and the ones they believe are not supporting them. We are also looking, obviously, at what amendments we require in the PFM Act to provide that until the budgets show equitable allocation of money, the Controller of Budget should not release the money. I am sure we will get some section where we can insert that amendment so that the intention and original objective of the Ward Development Fund Bill, which was supposed to facilitate equitable development of money across the counties will still be achieved. The situation on the ground is so unfortunate. We have seen it in different counties. I have talked to the leadership of the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) and some people from different counties and they keep saying, “We need your help as the National Assembly to force governors to stop discriminating against some areas because those areas did not support them.” I do not expect that assistance to come from the Senate. Because we have a bigger responsibility in terms of overseeing every State officer, which the Senate does not have, we can help through the PFM Act or any other law that we need to pass to ensure that that allocation of development money is not tied to political support, but to where the needs are. 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."
}