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{
    "id": 1231597,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1231597/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 451,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Chute",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13583,
        "legal_name": "Chute Mohamed Said",
        "slug": "chute-mohamed-said"
    },
    "content": "Northern Kenya. Equalization means everybody should have equal opportunities but that is not the case. The Committee also had issues with the so-called Managed Equipment Services (MES). They have allocated Kshs5.86 billion on top of what they have located to the counties, which is about Kshs4 or 5 billion. The CoB was complaining about monies going to the counties. When we were in Mombasa, she said that she cannot access county governments’ accounts. Some county governments have about 40 accounts and the money cannot be tracked. She said that she has no authority to access those funds. She has to go to court to get court orders to access those funds. We need to give them support by way of legislation that can help the CoB to access those accounts. That is a problem being created by county governments. For monies that go to the counties, 30 per cent is supposed to be for development. However, in fact, some counties purport to use 30 per cent for development but they use it for other things. They are saying that they use 30 per cent for development, while in the actual sense, they use about 20 of the 30 per cent. I think only 10 per cent is used for development or even zero in some instances. The CS for the National Treasury and Planning appeared before the Committee and talked about having drafted the Division of Revenue Bill, 2023, as per Article 218 of the Constitution and Section 191 of the PFM Act of 2013. In the Financial Year 2022/2023, the sharable revenue for the counties was Kshs370 billion. The Senate Majority Leader talked about Kshs385 billion. In support of the Senate Majority Leader, I would like to propose some amendments if possible. It should be amended from Kshs405 billion to Kshs385 billion. I wanted to say Kshs370 billion but I do not want to contradict the Senate Majority Leader. I support Kshs385 billion if that is okay. Sen. Wambua talked about the late Hon. Yusuf Haji and I agree with him entirely. Like he said, we have governors who are like robbers with sophisticated arms. This Senate should be allocated money to help us monitor those funds. You can even give them Kshs400 or 500 billion but if monitoring is not there, then we will be having a lot of issues. We should also look into that. Finally, all devolved functions should be transferred because we want our counties to develop. One Senator talked about governors coming here to look for money but that it is not true. They do not have houses in the counties. Their houses are in Karen, Lavington and other high-end places. They do not come here to look for funds because they live here. So, I do not agree with the Senator who said that county governors are here looking for money. Lastly, library services have been allocated Kshs425 million. This should be across the 47 and not only 33 counties. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I beg to support this Motion with amendments. I thank you."
}