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{
    "id": 1013029,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1013029/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 310,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Poghisio",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 202,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Losuron Poghisio",
        "slug": "samuel-poghisio"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill further proposes the establishment of local Equalization Fund committees. At the national level, we have the board and then now we have at the lower levels of the ward. Each ward is to then have a local committee. That will cover areas in marginalized areas as determined by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) in their report prepared pursuant to Article 216 of the Constitution. We all went through that report when we had an interaction with the CRA. It proposes that the local committee shall comprise of national Government officials responsible for the coordination of national Government functions. There will be two men and two women nominated in accordance with the Sub Section 3. One shall be a youth at the date of their appointment. There will be one person with disability nominated by a registered group representing persons with disability in that area. There will be two persons nominated by the relevant constituency office established under regulations made pursuant to the Parliamentary Service Commission Act, 2000. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there will also be an officer of the board seconded to the committee by the board who shall be an ex-officio member. There will be an officer of the relevant county government who shall be an ex-officio member and on member adopted by the board in accordance with the regulations made by that board. Before coming to the conclusion, I would want to focus on this whole area of the Bill. The Bill itself as now proposed and amended requires that we look at it, but we do not want the Bill to look any more different. This House has dealt with the CRA and its proposals on this particular matter. Our understanding is that when our Committee on Finance and Budget gets the opportunity then to speak on this matter, we will then get the details of what our amendments should be to make this a stronger Bill. That will enable this Bill to serve our people even better. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we need to have this understanding ourselves. While the National Assembly may cover the larger image of the country, we on the other hand, are more focused when it comes to the counties. We look at our counties and we know exactly our county maps. We know which of our counties really have the issues that lead to poverty. Our understanding is not just that there is something called marginalized. We understand better in details who are those marginalized. That covers areas that hitherto may not have been seemingly looking like they had poverty. However, because we represent counties, we know exactly where the pockets of poverty exist. That is why our Committee on Finance and Budget - I know the Members of that Committee are present - would understand very easily, where we are coming from on this matter. There is the other matter which I would like to add and, of course, some of these things will come in the amendments later. We have the counties that are called, not just the northern frontier, but they are called the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) counties. The ASAL counties are automatically counties that were marginalized for a long time. The ASAL or the frontier counties as they have been called, will then become the basic thread of determining those counties that will benefit. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}