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{
    "id": 1078377,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1078377/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 501,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndhiwa, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Martin Owino",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13449,
        "legal_name": "Martin Peters Owino",
        "slug": "martin-peters-owino"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Bill, the County Allocation Revenue Bill (Senate Bill No. 30 of 2021). I am a supporter of devolution and I believe that, as a House, we have to put all the efforts required so that we can have our devolution thrive while both addressing issues at the county level and also at the national level. One area which I am really passionate about is health. Even if we give counties money or they generate money from facilities, there was an order which was very efficient and Hon. (Dr.) James Nyikal really participated in authoring this - the Facility Improvement Fund. That only means that the funds have to be generated in the facilities for service and those funds are retained in the facilities in order to provide and improve infrastructure so that the facility can be afloat financially. There was a circular that came and removed that; meaning that the A-in-A which is generated in those facilities now goes to the county revenues account and then re-authorized to be used. When they go there, they get swallowed up in the budgeting. They can only now be given money back as budget which actually never come back in time. Right now, as I stand here, all health workers in my county have downed their tools. Some people are even being removed from the wards because there are no personnel. On that vein, there were some facilities which were taken and made COVID-19 treatment centres. That means that all the services which they were doing, including delivery and others which used to generate income to those facilities, vanished. Those facilities are not even paying their utilities, not even support staff. So, those facilities are dead. You can imagine how people are suffering. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, talking about this Bill, I also want to add my voice to the pending bills. The pending bills that are being talked about have become another animal to defraud Kenyans. There are no pending bills if we are doing a program-based budget meaning; that you put a program or an intervention and you allocate funds for it. The National Treasury is not disbursing money to the counties and so, we should talk about money being owed to the counties. If we do not disburse money efficiently and on time, we end up with the contractors who have done their work opting for litigation. We have additional money accruing on top of what was supposed to be paid for a programme. If you lump it together and pay them like that, that is where one Member said instead of 90-something, it came back to 40s. That will be another vehicle through which we will lose money. I urge this House to look into that very carefully. The other issue is that there is disconnect between some of the funding for the counties and national obligations. For example, disasters, fires, floods and food insecurity are left to the counties 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."
}