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{
    "id": 1021436,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021436/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 12,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(6) If a House of Parliament does not make a resolution either approving or rejecting any regulations within 15 sitting days after submission to it for approval, the House shall be deemed to have approved those regulations. From the available records of the House, the Hansard of the afternoon sitting of Tuesday 31st March, 2015, there are records that the Regulations were tabled before the House by the then Leader of the Majority Party and subsequently committed to the Committee on Delegated Legislation for scrutiny. I directed the Committee to consider the Regulations jointly with the Budget and Appropriations Committee and the then Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning and make appropriate recommendations to the House. Thereafter, it appears that by attrition of time, the Regulations stood approved by dint of the provisions of Section 205 (6) of the Public Finance and Management Act, 2012. Hon. Members, Regulation 134 of the said Regulations provides for the transfer of the equitable share of national revenue to the counties before the approval of A County Allocation of Revenue Bill. In particular, it provides, “if the County Allocation of Revenue Bill submitted to Parliament for a financial year has not been approved by Parliament or is not likely to be approved by Parliament by the beginning of the financial year, the Controller of Budget may authorise the withdrawals of up to 50 per cent of the Consolidated Fund based on the last County Allocation of Revenue Act approved by Parliament for the purposes of meeting expenditure of the county governments of the financial year”. At face value, it may be argued that this Regulation effectively allows the Controller of Budget to disburse 50 per cent of the equitable share to be allocated to the counties in the previous year’s Division of Revenue Bill pending approval of a County Allocation of Revenue Bill. Conversely, it may also be argued that the Regulations are not the Act of Parliament necessary to authorise withdrawal of funds from the Consolidated Fund as contemplated by Article 206 (2) of the Constitution. In light of the request by the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and the advice given by the Attorney General, the second argument seems to carry more weight. If the Regulations were indeed an adequate mechanism, the Cabinet Secretary and the Attorney General would not need recourse to Parliament and the National Treasury’s request for approval would be with the House today. Hon. Members, at around the same time as the Regulations were being tabled before the House in 2015 during the 11th Parliament, a Bill from the national Government which was prepared by the then Attorney-General at the request of the National Treasury, was introduced in this House by the then Leader of the Majority Party, seeking to insert a new Section 42A into the Public Finance Management Act, 2012. Clause 14 of the then Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill 2015 (National Assembly Bill No.4 of 2015) effectively sought to authorise the vote-on- account for county governments, in the event that a County Allocation of Revenue Bill is yet to be passed or assented to before the commencement of a financial year. Those proposed amendments clearly affirm the need for the express authorisation of withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund, either by the Constitution itself, or by an Act of Parliament. Though the Bill lapsed with the 11th Parliament, it is noteworthy that the Budget and Appropriations Committee had recommended the deletion of the proposal as contained in that particular Bill on account of its obscure nature and its failure to properly provide for the operative basis for the proposed disbursements to counties. Hon. Members, at this stage, permit me to note that my Office is also in receipt of a Notice of Motion from the Leader of the Minority Party, Hon. John Mbadi, acting as an agent of necessity, seeking a resolution of the House for the disbursement of funds to the county governments 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."
}