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{
    "id": 1123825,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1123825/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 242,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "The forum shall also consider the views of the county government on the Division of Revenue Bill and County Allocation of Revenue Bill before enactment and on proposed withdrawals from the Equalization Fund. Madam Deputy Speaker, that agenda is not developmental. It does not offend what the High Court said. It is consultative. We are consulting and harmonizing. We are making sure that what the national Government, county governments and Members of Parliament (MPs), who hold funds representing the national government do, is harmonized so that we do not have unnecessary wastage and duplication. There would be practical challenges, for example, one, how do you get a quorum? What if the governor decides to invite only Members of Parliament (MPs) who he likes and governors who come from his political party? So, we have put a provision saying that the forum is properly constituted when the governor, Senator and at least one-third of the Members of National Assembly are present. Madam Deputy Speaker, we cannot make the quorum a 100 per cent. We cannot just say 30 per cent. However, we need to make sure that at least the three constituencies, the governor, the Senate, the National Assembly and probably the county commissioner are seated then have a threshold to have meetings. The other practical concern is how frequent should the meetings be. If you look at the agenda and you have things like the Budget Policy Statement (BPS), the Division of Revenue Bill and the County Allocation of Revenue Bill which are annual in nature, it means that at a minimum, this forum must meet twice because the BPS Division of Revenue Bill and County Allocation of Revenue Bill come at different frequencies. Another problem is how to take care of administrative expenses. That is something else that the governors contested in court. They said that there is no way they will take care of the tea and water of a Senator which is taken care of by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). Madam Deputy Speaker, your heart bleeds when you think about devolution and what the intention was. It was not supposed to be competition between the people and their representatives. It was supposed to be people working together. The court had agreed with them in case of the Gov. Sang’s Bill that it was wrong for a Senator to do a meeting in the county and then it is underwritten by the county government. We, Senators can carry our own tea and other liquids in flasks in our pockets. We do not need the county government to make this a big deal that they are now financing the activities of Parliament. The other concern is: What if the governor decides that he is not doing it? Kenya has this uta do mentality. Even if we have not put it in, this is a matter that came up during public participation that we need to put a penalty. There are certain cases where in drafting the law, we have made certain offences impeachable. For example, under the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, if a governor or person who is summoned is taken to court and upon conviction is found to have violated the provisions of that Act, there is a financial aspect that they will be fined. It goes further to say that the conviction shall form grounds for removal from office."
}