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{
    "id": 1019564,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1019564/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 278,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mogotio, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Daniel Tuitoek",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13434,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kamuren Tuitoek",
        "slug": "daniel-kamuren-tuitoek"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this particular Bill. This Bill is exciting in that we have had a problem with counties in terms of revenue collection. I agree with many Members who have raised the issue that system collections in the counties is wanting. Basically, we do not see what they collect. Most of them are in the range of Kshs300 million or so yearly. If this particular system comes to force, this issue of standardisation may help in terms of seeing how each county is performing in revenue collection. I know there is a lot of challenges where the counties are y diverse. Some of my colleagues were talking about chicken, in Mogotio Constituency we do not deal so much with chicken, we deal with other aspects of domestic animals like goats and cows. In this case, this system should be robust to allow a diverse kind of collection. One of the issues that the counties are suffering from is that of revenue from the national Government. This ‘animal’ called Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS) does not work effectively. If you talk to many county governments, they will tell you that even the money we agreed to disburse to the counties never get there on time. It almost gets there at the end of the financial year. This is an area that we should demand that as much they should do well in local revenue collection, the National Treasury should also up their game in enabling the counties to receive their share on time, so that they can execute most of the budgeted systems that they have put in place. I know we have a problem in terms of accountability. This has been raised that even most of the revenue collected may end up in people’s pockets. This may not necessarily be the governor, but it could be the other officers within the county. This is an area that we need to look at to bring some sanity to revenue collections in the counties. This is to make sure that even what is being discussed today in the Senate, the sharing of revenue, finds a way to increase that percentage for those who are doing well in terms of revenue collection. Currently, it is at one per cent, but they should increase it so that there can be a motivation for the counties to bring in more revenue to the system. They should think through it carefully so that they do not tax women who are doing small subsistence kind of businesses in markets. They just need to target bigger enterprises for revenue collection, but not the women and youths who are actually trying to survive. In this case, as the Committee looks at it, we need to support this Bill. We also call on the National Treasury to make sure that the business going on in the counties, especially on the issue of procurement which is a headache that needs a bit of revisiting, so that it is straightforward and easy to operate. This is so that when the counties procure, they are able to get the money to pay their suppliers on time. With those remarks, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to support. Thank you."
}