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{
    "id": 1019534,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1019534/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 248,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiminini, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Chris Wamalwa",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker for granting me this opportunity. Article 96 of the Constitution is very clear in terms of the Senate representing the counties. The Senate has only been representing the counties when it comes to expenditure and sharable formula. I want to salute the Mover of this Bill from the other side, Dr. Zani, because the Bill is long overdue. Before the matters of devolution came in, we had counties, municipal councils and the local county councils. If you go to history, you will find the amount of money they were collecting in terms of revenue is higher than what the current counties are collecting. It is ridiculous. If the projection of revenue collection is X and you end up declaring 10 per cent of that, where has the rest gone to? There is a leakage. I want to agree with my colleagues that this money has been the pocket money for the governors. This has been petty cash in their pockets. It is a high time we moved with speed so that this Bill can be concluded immediately. I hope when the CRA comes with allocation of the money, there should be a framework where if you collected more, you should be given more. We hear that they are talking about the sharable revenue which comes from the national Government based on the Division of Revenue, but they do not want to tell us what they are collecting locally. If you go to the local counties, you will find that mama mboga is being taxed, boda boda in my county of Trans-Nzoia is being taxed twice or thrice what the bodaboda is being taxed in the neighbouring counties like Bungoma or Uasin Gishu, but that money is not being declared. It is, therefore, important to have harmonised systems of this collection of revenue. The KRA is mandated with revenue collection. I wish there is a clear framework on how counties can work with KRA, so that the KRA can send some of their staff to the counties and bring in professionalism. There is a lot of corruption in this country. Corruption is devolved. We have seen that in some counties, When the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) goes for individuals with purpose of anti-corruption, some governors are facing the music while in others are untouchable. I do not know what is happening? It is high time we put this in place. This should be looked into. There are many streams of raising money in the counties. For example, when you want to build, you pay money to the local counties. There is also the issue of property taxing and licensing. It is so much money that the people are collecting. We have heard the experience of the Member for Mavoko, it is like an empirical study, making it clear and has demonstrated how you exponentially increase the collection of revenue in the county. That is a clear case study. If you go to our local counties, a lot is going on. Businesses are moving up and down, but you do not see the money. 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."
}