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{
    "id": 1232796,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1232796/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 217,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Committees will be formed with the assistance of the National Treasury and the Equalization Fund Advisory Board. The committees at mashinani level will ensure that they come up with projects that will touch and help the communities in a particular area. That is important because it will ensure total inclusion of the local mwananchi . That is the person on the ground who really needs the services directly. That is why, this Fund is strictly for the marginalised areas. These areas have been identified up to the region level and the amount of funds allocated cleared indicated in the Bill. With this, it will be easier for the members who will sit on a particular committee in a particular region to budget as per what will be allocated. That is important because without that in place, then planning becomes difficult. They are going to have impactful results of projects, unlike situations whereby there is no committee and governors bring up projects without looking at how much is needed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, during our committee meetings, we engaged different stakeholders. We have had good engagements with different stakeholders, ranging from the National Treasury, who have given their input. We have discussed one key element; why these funds have delayed. As I said earlier, the initial appropriation amount was Kshs54 billion. Out of this, only Kshs26 billion is what the National Treasury approved. On top of that, only Kshs12 billion is what has already been disbursed to the different marginalised areas. Therefore, there is an outstanding or Kshs13 billion. During our deliberations with Members of the National Assembly, we realised that out of Kshs13 billion, only Kshs10 billion has been appropriated in the first Supplementary Budget, hence, there is a deficit of around Kshs3 billion. As a committee, we decided that let the Kshs10 billion pass and be disbursed to the marginalised regions because it was already appropriated, in order to avoid any delays, so that these funds can be appropriated as per the disbursement schedule. The balance of Kshs3 billion will be incorporated with the balance from Kshs54 billion less Kshs26 billion. The outstanding balance of Kshs28 billion will be added so that they can be allocated the funds. We also met different stakeholders such as the Council of Governors (CoG). They clearly stated and tabled the existing projects. They mentioned about 300 projects that were in place in total, but about 120 are completed and the rest are stalling. According to the CoG, the reason for stalling of projects is because of untimely disbursement of funds for projects. Another challenge they mentioned is that contractors do not work because of delays."
}