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{
    "id": 1019628,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1019628/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 342,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kinangop, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Zachary Thuku",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13380,
        "legal_name": "Zachary Kwenya Thuku",
        "slug": "zachary-kwenya-thuku"
    },
    "content": "Constitution in 2010. We have had issues on revenue collection by our county governments. The very purpose of devolution was to take services closer to the people by making sure that revenues that are collected are felt at the lowest level. We should see some level of transparency, accountability and verifiability of revenues collected by county governments. There are several types of revenues collected by revenue officers in the county governments. There is cess, parking fees, trade licence fees, physical planning fees and fees paid by mama mbogas. But we do not have a standard system for collecting revenue so that the money can be allocated later in accordance to the PFM Act. It is so sad that the people who benefit from those funds are the revenue officers and the governors, which is a fraud against the people of Kenya. Therefore, this Bill will cure the anomalies that have been happening for quite a long time. The best thing about this Bill is that this money will go directly to the public coffers through Kenya Revenue Authority. It is the sole institution that is envisaged in this Bill to collect revenue. If that is that case, I am for the opinion that we should have a system, like the one for the NG-CDF, whereby the county governments submit their development and recurrent expenditure priorities to the Controller of Budget, so that the monies disbursed to county governments are well defined as opposed to what is happening today where the county governments have the luxury with the money they collect. The other thing that I support about this Bill is the issue of verifiability. Today, anybody from outside would not be able to verify the amount of money collected by the county governments. The county governments are able to interfere with the systems they have. That is why the system that is envisaged in this Bill should be a system that is tamper proof. The only people who should have access to it should be KRA officers. As I conclude, I also note that there is a punitive clause in this Bill. If a county government does not comply with this law once it is enacted, it can be denied the right to access funds from the National Treasury. This is going to ensure the county governments procure the system that is going to be developed. I believe that the national Government should be in a position to develop a system so that we have uniformity. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support and congratulate Senator Zani for coming up with this Bill. Thank you."
}