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{
"id": 1078338,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1078338/?format=api",
"text_counter": 462,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Garissa Township, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Aden Duale",
"speaker": {
"id": 15,
"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
"slug": "aden-duale"
},
"content": "Embu, Garissa, Isiolo, Kirinyaga, Kitui, Machakos, Meru, name them - about 25 counties. They have gone outside the ceiling. The failure is on the part of the Controller of Budget. The law gives her the power. Section 5 of the Controller of Budget Act read together with Article 207(3) of the Constitution, the Controller of Budget is required to enforce compliance to the limit by exercising her power on withdrawals from the county revenue accounts, unless the Controller of Budget is in bed with those governors. When you see governors supporting BBI, it is not because they love it. When you see governors violating the law in terms of wages, it is because they have compromised EACC, the Controller of Budget and officers of the Auditor-General. This Constitution created certain independent institutions to protect the law and to protect public resources. So, the Controller of Budget must make sure that those counties are within the limits set. My second point is the low expenditure on development budget. The Controller of Budget, in her Report for the nine months preceding this financial year, said that county governments spent only Kshs48 billion on development activities, representing an absorption level of 25 per cent. Cumulatively, the county governments spent Kshs193 billion. Section 107(2)(b) of the PFM Act, 2012 which this House passed provides that over the medium and a minimum of 35 per cent of county revenue must be spent on development. Hon. Temporary Speaker, walk into our counties. Nothing is going on there. They may have built an office for the governor, a county assembly for the representatives and nothing else. Kindly note that I do not want to become a governor. Counties with low development absorption rates are notorious, and they include: Nairobi, Kisumu, Lamu, Baringo, Nakuru, Samburu and Garissa. My county is appearing everywhere because we elected a character who is not fit to be a leader. The only money we gave him, which came from the World Bank, is in court. My third and final point is the delay in disbursement of equitable share for the National Treasury, which is killing devolution. The Exchequer for counties should reach their respective county revenue accounts as per the disbursement schedule that is approved by the Senate. The Minister for Finance has no choice. The Schedule is approved by the Senate, which is the custodian of devolution. The Minister must follow that schedule which he has not been following. In the first nine months of the Financial Year 2020/2021, the National Treasury disbursed a total of Kshs158 billion to counties as equitable share of revenue raised nationally, which accounts for 50.2 per cent of the annual equitable share of revenue. The disbursed amount of revenue raised during that financial year should have been higher. You do not have to give money. If you go to counties now, officers are not working, vehicles are grounded, garbage is not collected and electricity bills have not been paid. That is not because there is no money. It is because the National Treasury is not disbursing enough money for development. Governors find themselves in situations where they want to “eat” monitoring and evaluation operations money which is meant for fuel, flowers, newspapers, rent and Kenya Power and yet, they do not remit statutory deductions. I want to talk about pending bills. The CS cannot come to this House to ask for compliance. We cannot give you powers. The CS must give out the money. Both county and the national governments must pay. Those pending bills are part of the national debt. The money we owe China and other countries is the same money that the Government owes to Kenyans. A debt is a debt. If this Government cannot pay the debt of our people, why should they bother paying China’s debt?"
}