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{
    "id": 1134379,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1134379/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 185,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Eng.) Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": "I support the Committee’s recommendation in the Report that the county allocation of revenue be increased from Kshs370 billion to Kshs495 billion and the Equalization Fund be released to the counties. We are at the end of the 11th year and no funds have been released from that Fund. It has a sunset clause of 20 years; already 11 years gone and we have only 9 to go and nothing has been released. When they start releasing, will they release the ones they started generating from 2011 or from when they will start releasing? In this country, I do not believe there is money kept in a particular place since 2011, waiting for the Equalization Fund law to be passed. It seems there has never been a good will. It is a meager amount of 0.5 percent, which has also not been released for the last 11 years. The Committee also proposes reduction in the national Government allocation of the budget, so that what is recovered from there can be released to the counties. The counties also have issues, as my colleagues have stated. They also need to see how they can raise their own revenues. Having had the benefit of being in the County Public Accounts and Investment Committee, you realise that the county governments are not serious on the own source revenue generation, while they have more capacity than the previous local authorities. They can automate their revenue collection and have capacity to employ more staff to collect more revenue. However, you will find that they are not generating revenue as they should, either because there is no push since they are expecting money from the national Government or money is being collected and spent at the source. To make matters worse, governors are not ready to be oversighted by the Senate at that level. There are court cases to the effect that Senate should not oversight the counties on the own source generated revenue. This gives a leeway for the Government or Governors to spend the money as they wish, which is not right. We have had problems even when it came to conditional grants like the roads maintenance levy fund, which when the Roads and Transportation Committee of the Senate called the governors to account for the roads maintenance levy fund, they went to court. Now we have an order barring the Senate from oversighting the county governments on the funds, which we allocate. This shows how far the governors can go to avoid oversight. This makes it difficult for us to argue that they should get more funds because they are not ready to account for what they have. On the issue of pending bills at the county government, county governments receive all their monies they budget for other than when they under collect their own source revenue. That is where a shortfall occurs, which they should adjust as they move on. Then make sure they do not overestimate their revenue. The kind of pending bills we are talking of shows lack of financial discipline. Governors are not following the law in terms of spending as per the budget. This is why you have an approved budget, you receive the whole amount, however late it maybe, you still have accumulating pending bills because you do not follow your budget. This is a discipline that the governors need to develop and should pay all the much they owe. These are Kenyans; we have heard complains of merchants who had their properties auctioned because the counties could not pay on time for what they have delivered. This is sad because more often than not,"
}