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{
    "id": 1134104,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1134104/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 84,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(1) Adjust the proposed allocation of Kshs1,764.52 billion shareable revenues to the national Government for Financial Year 2022/2023 in the 2022 BPS by reducing it by only 7 per cent. We will be able to get our 125; and, (2) Ensure that the budget deficit including grants does not exceed 6 per cent of GDP while the budget deficit excluding grants should be pegged at 6.4 per cent as projected in the coming year’s BPS 2022. If we were to do that, then the counties will get the money we are talking about. Like we presented last time, we noted that there is money that is being wasted by paying commitment fees for loans that we have taken and committed. We are not using, or they have not been dispersed. The last time I checked, we had lost about Kshs14.6 billion. Those are facts. Anybody can get the data and verify. We pay commitment fees to loans that we have borrowed, but we are not using. If that money was to be saved and taken to the counties, then we will be supporting devolution and ensuring that the services get closer to the Wananch i or Wanjiku . Mr. Speaker, Sir, The National Treasury should rationalize the national Government budgets for devolved functions such as health, agriculture (crop, livestock, and fisheries development), water, irrigation, sanitation, and regional development, and the funds transferred to the county governments. It is an irony that the Ministries continue getting huge allocations when those functions have already been devolved to the counties. We request that should be reversed and money due to counties be given to them. Mr. Speaker Sir, to enhance revenue mobilization as well as improve the predictability of the tax regime to attract investments, the National Treasury should prioritize type finalization of the National Tax Policy. It is an embarrassment that even after mentioning this last year and one year down the line, we have not seen the National Treasury rising to the occasion and finalizing the national tax policy. We are calling on them and telling them to wake up as it is a high time we get the National Tax Policy operationalized. In conclusion, the Committee expresses gratitude to all the stakeholders who made contributions to the success of this exercise of consideration of these two key budget documents. The stakeholders include; the Standing Committees of the Senate, the National Treasury and Planning, the Commission on Revenue Allocation, International Business Partnerships Kenya Chapter, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and The Institute of Social Accountability (TISA). The Committee is also grateful to the offices of the Speaker of the Senate, the Clerk of the Senate and the secretariat technical team attached for the support received in the course of discharging the mandate of examining the 2022 BPS and the MTDMS. I appreciate all the Senators who participated in the meeting that was organized for the general briefing of the BPS and the MTDMS. Thank you all for the support that you offered in this process. I also appreciate all members of the Committee for their patience, sacrifice and commitment to public service which enabled us to complete the assigned task within the stipulated time. We are proud that we have never missed a quorum as a Committee."
}