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{
"id": 1271807,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1271807/?format=api",
"text_counter": 338,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 170,
"legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
"slug": "bonny-khalwale"
},
"content": "When you go to a public function and you tell the people of Kisii County, for example, that you have given Governor Simba Arati, this much money, you speak to the billions, millions, thousands, up to the last shilling, Governor Simba Arati will realize that there is a sheriff in town. Madam Temporary Speaker, we also, as Senators, need to encourage ourselves to quickly go before our county assemblies and tell them about the arrival of this money. Many times, governors have given Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) the impression that money is hard to come from Nairobi. We have lived by our mantra of bottom up. We have released money to all the governors. With this Schedule still here, it is not easy for the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to make the money to hit accounts. I would like my statement to prick my colleagues from Azimio-One Kenya Alliance. Sen. Ogola, in the report of the Controller of Budget (CoB), they have itemized the performance of our counties from the time of their last election. They have indicated how much money each governor is collecting as Own Source Revenue (OSR). Sadly, the top counties, and with due respect, are Kenya Kwanza counties. Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Bungoma et cetera . The Azimio-One Kenya Alliance counties, in this last month, are indicating a drop. I would like you to familiarize yourself with this because it is painful. It does not mean that when mama mboga is selling her vegetables or fish, she is not paying taxes. They are paying but these people do not declare. If we do not put pressure on them, they will cheat you that Kakamega has raised Kshs2 billion, when in fact, it has the capacity to raise Kshs6 billion. If you go to Kisii County, which has very enterprising people, those thousands of people you see in Kisii Town at the market place and other centres, pay taxes. So, if we do not put pressure, the governors just share that money in the evening as they go home. We have a job to do. Governors take advantage of MCAs because of their poor remuneration. So, MCAs are not able to oversight them strongly. We need to give them the proper backup. Having said that, I inform the people of Kakamega that we are very lucky that this year, the Governor is going to spend Kshs17,370,287,053. He has no excuse. We expect the Governor of Kakamega to hit the road running to ensure that stalled projects like Mumias Hospital, Butere Hospital, Nambacha Market, Malinya Market, Khayega Market and Shiamakhubu Hospital are completed quickly together with Bukhungu Stadium because the money is there in billions of shillings. This applies across the board. Therefore, we have every reason to insist that they perform. Last, but not least, at the risk of anticipating debate, my Vice-Chair is not here. There is a Bill I have seen which has come through the National Assembly. It is seeking our concurrence. Colleagues, it is trying to shift public debt from being benchmarked on debt ceiling to anchoring, so that the debt is a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the modern way of doing things. Colleagues, the reason why it is worrying me is that I have seen a clause there, which has now been approved, if we agree. They are saying that whereas, it should be anticipated to be at 55 per cent and the"
}