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{
    "id": 1063227,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1063227/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo-Ayacko",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker for correctly pointing out to Sen. (Dr.) Lang’at that he will have an opportunity to prove that he is not a thief. I also have that opportunity to say I am not a thief. I am not on trial so I will not prove whether I am thief or not. I want to start by congratulating the newest Senator. I am happy that we have Sen. A. Haji. One Sen. Haji exits and another comes in. Madam Deputy Speaker, this work that has brought what we are discussing today, I want to pay special gratitude to the Committee Chairperson, Sen. Kibiru. He had to chair one very critical session from the hospital. He really sacrificed from the hospital to ensure that we made it in time and we, therefore, have a report. What is important to observe in this Report and also in this Bill is that as the Senate we have always believed in the rule of law. We have always believed in the sanctity of the law. When the court made a decision in the case that was taken to court by the CoG, High Court Petition No.252 of 2016, the court decided at Paragraph 72 and allow me to read it- “When allocating funds to the county level of government as either a conditional or non-conditional grant, it is expected that the allocation is made from the national level of Government’s share. Secondly, it is trite law from the language used in Article 202 as read together with Article 218 (1)(a) of the Constitution conditional or non-conditional grants are not an item to be provided for under the Division of Revenue Act.” Madam Deputy Speaker, you notice that invariably, the National Treasury and the National Assembly have been trying to make conditional grants part of the Division of Revenue Act. The court made its decision. We, as a Committee, decided to give life to that decision. That decision will go a long way into assisting and defining the mandate of the Senate. The mandate of the Senate under Article 17 is to allocate horizontally funds to counties. It is our responsibility to divide the revenue among counties. When the national Government decides where we are not and where nobody participates how much to give a county and for what that money should be applied, that is a usurpation of our responsibility. We thought the court had spoken out loudly on that and it is important to capture it in the Report."
}