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{
    "id": 1134253,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1134253/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 59,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "It becomes big by engaging in capital expenditure. Capital expenditure generates wealth and creates employment. That is what Singapore did. To create employment for a restless labour market, they went into massive infrastructure, but not infrastructure that terminates in private property or infrastructure for prestige. It is infrastructure that unlocks the productivity of a nation. Those are the things that we should see. For those of us who have finally come to support the agenda of the Government of the day, we would wish to be associated with ideas that we can be proud of. We do not want to just see business as usual ideas. How do we restore the 700,000 jobs that have been lost? We are not seeing that captured here in the BPS. Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to speak on few specific issues. I support the proposal by the Committee on Finance and Budget to increase the allocation to counties, to account for inflation and revenue growth. I know that the Committee on Finance and Budget has latched onto the 35 per cent of the last audited accounts. In fact, I look forward to the day when allocation to the counties will be on the basis of the budget. If you look at Kshs370 billion as a percentage of the Kshs3.3 trillion budget, it does not get to 15 per cent. My friend Hon. Opiyo Wandayi chairs the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the other House. He has been chairing it for the past four years. I wonder why we are still talking of the audited accounts of Financial Year 2017/2018. Why should we not talk about audited accounts for financial years 2018/2019 or 2019/2020? I know that the Committee on Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) of this House has moved further and they could be considering the audited accounts of Financial Year 2019/2020. We must also bring pressure to bear to our colleagues in the other House that their delay in processing and approving accounts is leading to significant losses to counties. I would in future support a constitutional amendment that would look at an allocation being a percentage of the budget rather than historical figures. The Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) that is chaired by the Deputy President is a very important organ. It brings together the 47 county governors and the Deputy President represents the Executive. The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) is called upon regularly to provide advice. Unfortunately, the Senate has got no role to play in the IBEC. So, whatever it is we learnt in the news that the IBEC decided does not bind this Senate because this Senate has an express constitutional responsibility to determine allocations to county governments. In future, to avoid the IBEC from just being a talking shop where people go for photo ops and others ignore invitations just to prove a point, we need to find a way of making the IBEC a truly intergovernmental entity. The IBEC should be a place where Sen. Kibiru can ventilate and articulate the views of the Senate and the Senators. Even before that, Sen. Kibiru must get a brief from individual Senators on what he should say at the IBEC meeting."
}