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{
    "id": 1134280,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1134280/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 86,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "In fact, when the American economy was in great depression after the First World War and the great depression that ensued around 1929 to early 1930s, the response of the Roosevelt administration was to engage in capital intensive projects; those are the highways built in the United States of America (USA). It was important that they engaged in those capital intensive projects so that they could open up the interstate commerce trade in the USA and facilitate trade among or within the 50 States. The advantage of also engaging in these capital intensive projects is that at the time you are engaging in them, you are able to create employment for other many unemployed young people in your country. However, the objective of those projects must have an end to itself. There must be a linkage between the capital intensive projects and the economic growth and the market. Like Sen. Kajwang captured it so well, if a project is done to end in somebody’s land, gate, home or for purpose of painting a very good picture of having a big road coming from the airport to Westlands, without that linkage as to how much trade it is going to contribute, then it becomes counterproductive. You accumulate more debt, suffocate the economy, suffocate the market and then you create the situation that we have in the country. This BPS so properly captured by Sen. Kibiru and his team says that the danger of the national debt is that it is reaching a time where county governments will not get the equitable share they deserve because debt is the first payment to be defrayed from the resources we receive. It is the first charge on the national revenue from the consolidated fund. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the second issue that I want to address is the resources that go to the counties. This is where I want Kenyans to follow so carefully. One year ago this House engaged in a serious conversation about the county allocation of revenue formula as to how we are going to share our resources among our 47 counties. That debate created a scene in this country that has never been witnessed in so far as this Senate is concerned. It created factions within this Chamber. It created drama about some senators being arrested, others being cajoled and others being bought. There was so much drama that took place in this Chamber. Eventually we came up with a very important formula whose guiding principle was a win-win. That no county should lose the resources that they were receiving by the time we were having this conversation. It was at that point in time that a stalemate was broken by the Executive promising that Kshs370 billion was going to be given to counties to ensure that the formulae we had adopted will leave all counties at a stage where none will lose resources. After that, something called the BBI came up. In the BBI, the promise was that 35 per cent of the revenue raised nationally was going to be given to county governments. Meaning this Kshs370 billion in this financial year and with the projected revenue of Kshs1.8 trillion being raised nationally, what we should be doing on the Floor of this House is to divide the resources by giving county governments Kshs630 billion as promised by the BBI report. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what has been done by Sen. Kibiru who is a great proponent of BBI? What has been done by President Uhuru Kenyatta? He has been lamenting up to"
}