Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1106604,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1106604/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 231,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": "we are doing today is merely academic if not academic. There is a time period prescribed under the PFM Act. This is the problem we had with the original regulations that were passed in 2014. We attempted to amend them and the National Treasury refused because we are now caught between a rock and a hard place. We do not agree with a clause that in itself creates a problem in counties. What do you do with it? It has already become law and we cannot publish a corrigendum; we do not have jurisdiction. I have a problem and I must say so because we have put ourselves in an awkward position. The people who were asking from the Committee Chairperson NG-CDF, County Assembly, they should find a position for the Senate. If the Senate has a representative at the board level in Nairobi, why not have a representative of the Senate at the County level, which is the theatre of devolution. This appears obvious and logical. As the Senate - I have said this before - we cannot take away our own jurisdiction and give it away to others. This is what we are doing with this County Executive Committee. It is allowing ourselves to be run out of town by functionaries of the national Government. It is unacceptable. Hon. Members of the Parliament, we are the people who are fighting to have an Equalisation Fund. If you look at the sidenotes of Article 204, it talks about counties. All of a sudden, we have taken the theatre to the CDF manager and NG-CDF people. It is not necessary. It is another NG-CDF. This is exactly what we have been refusing. The Bill by the Member from Samburu, who attempted to amend the Constitution, we rejected it flatly because he attempted to go round and cede the Equalisation Fund by having this theatre in the constituencies. I am forced to say ‘no’ to this since it contradicts the work I have done since 2013 of trying to fight this to be the theatre of counties and the work of the Senate. At the end of this you have a report which comes to the Senate. What is the purpose of having a report coming to the Senate at the tail end of this process when you have not involved the Senators in project identification? It is a waste. I am afraid I do not agree. I have said that this is a contradiction. We might be doing an academic exercise. There is something we did; I want to say this loudly, there is about Kshs20 billion - Sen. Farhiya, if I am not correct you can correct me - lying about the 14 counties that had been identified. Those counties include Samburu, Isiolo, Mandera and others. There is some money and projects that had been identified in the first nine years that is already in the kitty. In our report, we provided a transitional clause so that the projects are not lost and that the money is not appropriated in the second policy."
}