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{
    "id": 1244918,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1244918/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 192,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Allow me this afternoon to be the devil’s advocate. They say that the only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. Even the repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy. It is very easy for you to point fingers at other people but whenever you point a finger at someone, you should always remember that there are four pointing backwards to you. All of us in this discussion have a role to play in the situation in our counties, people’s homes and kitchens. The way I understand the work of the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) is that even the money that is supposed to go to the salaries and emoluments of the MCAs comes from the amount of money that we send to the counties. There is no separate allocation for that. Therefore, when we, as the House, get an opportunity to increase the devolution basket, I hold the position that the Senate must always do everything that we can to enlarge that basket. We should do that before we come here and pontificate and try to please MCAs, when we are the people who are part of the problem of those MCAs. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it embarrasses me greatly, as a Senator, every time I see a Senator speak about how they do not have drugs in our hospitals or that MCAs need better salaries, where is that money going to come from? It is we, as the Senate, to fight to enlarge the basket of devolution. The embarrassment I get is that the opportunity that we get to enlarge that basket is through the Division of Revenue Allocation Bill. That Bill was here. We had an opportunity to enlarge that basket but we chose not to enlarge it. It cannot come from us that now we are suddenly realizing that MCAs need more money. Whenever we meet County Assemblies in our Public Accounts Committee (PAC), we have had this conversation with the MCAs. We do not have to appear like we are tone-deaf. We are having this conversation at a time every Kenyan is struggling. I have argued that if we are talking about earnings and salaries, we then need to have a conversation about all Kenyans’ earnings and salaries. Everybody is suffering. We would appear to be tone-deaf as a House if we only picked to discuss our own emoluments or those of other elected leaders. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in fact, we have tried to convince our colleagues on the other side of the political divide that we must have a general conversation about how Kenyans are doing. People’s incomes have not grown for a long time. All these responsibilities people are talking about, it is not as if only elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and MCAs are invited to harambees only. No, people who"
}