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{
    "id": 111874,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/111874/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 402,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Chapter provides criteria that are to be taken into account in sharing the national revenue. These include national interests, the need to ensure the county governments can fulfill their functions, economic disparities among regions and the need to provide incentives to counties to develop their capacity to raise revenue, among other things. Overall, this ensures that the national government and the Counties are allocated funds according to their needs. Not all counties will receive the same funding. Their differences will be considered. The Chapter also retains the important protection on funding for county governments that had been introduced by the Parliamentary Select Committee requiring that at least 15 per cent of the revenue raised by the national government, annually be set aside for Counties. Two institutions, the Senate and the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) are to play a special role in the process of division of revenue. The CRA provides expert independent advice to the Senate, national government and county governments on the division of revenue and the Senate determines the way in which the share of revenue allocated to the counties shall be divided. There is an elaborate procedure for doing that function. But indeed, the point is that this House has been pushing for those issues for a long time; how to have equitable distribution of the resources and, more importantly, how to have oversight over those resources. Often times, the Budget has been a ceremony, more than really a serious function of this House. So, the Minister for Finance delivers the statement and all Members are allowed to do is to pass the Votes. Rarely does Parliament have any role in that function other than ceremonial or legalistic. Now for the first time, we will have a situation where, indeed, there is equitable procedure. There are Constitutional principles to be followed in doing that equitable resource sharing. Parliament will have expert advice independent of the Executive to be able to help Members of Parliament to do their function of resource allocation and oversight. This does happen. It is not the wheel being reinvented. This does happen. It is, indeed, possible also in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa."
}