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{
    "id": 1021953,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021953/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 226,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Poghisio",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 202,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Losuron Poghisio",
        "slug": "samuel-poghisio"
    },
    "content": "Madam Deputy Speaker, from the outset, let me point out that the Supreme Court Advisory Opinion relates to a situation where the Division of Revenue Bill has not been enacted. This is distinguishable to the present scenario where the Division of Revenue Act has been enacted and the counties’ share of nationally raised revenue has been determined. Access to these funds would therefore not be subject to the approval of the National Assembly or be predicated on the passage of an Appropriation Bill. The global allocation to counties has already been made by the Division of Revenue Act. However, the Advisory Opinion remains useful for our present purposes as it would have the same net effect that we are trying to achieve. The directions of the court would result in the transfer of 50 per cent of the allocation made to each county government in the immediate preceding financial year. Indeed, the manner in which the court arrived at this conclusion is aligned to my Statement today. In considering the question to access of funds by counties during a delay in the enactment of legislation contemplated under Article 218 of the Constitution, the court employed a purposive interpretation of the Constitution. They based their opinion on the overarching principle of continuity in government as set out in Article 222 of the Constitution and espoused in other rulings of the Supreme Court. The court found that a reading of the law whose consequence would be the grinding to a halt of the delivery of services by county governments would represent a subversion of Article 222 of the Constitution and yet a constitution cannot subvert itself. There must, therefore, be a remedy for counties to continue delivering on public services. On the premise of the law and facts that I have canvassed above, therefore, it is incumbent upon the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury to implement the provisions of Regulation 134 of the Public Finance Management Act (National Government) Regulations and further fortified by the ratio decidendi of the Court in Advisory Opinion No.3 of 2019, to transfer to the counties 50 per cent of the allocation made in the County Allocation of Revenue Act, 2019. This would ensure continuity in 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."
}