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{
    "id": 1286089,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1286089/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "fact, it might have undesired consequences. County governments might start saying that now that you are retaining your revenue or resources, we are not going to continue financing you to the tune we used to finance you in the past. That will cripple these hospitals because these monies we are talking about and the revenue that is retained is not a lot of money. I also suspect that it might force many of these institutions to review their charges upwards. I can see the Senate Majority Leader laughing. However, in Nairobi right now, there is a Finance Bill, 2023 that is under debate. I am sure you have followed the debate. It is proposing, for instance, that Level 4 hospitals are going to charge you Kshs2500 to clean your tooth. Male circumcision in a Level 4 hospital, it is Kshs4000. Not many people can afford these charges. My fear is that when you put this pressure on these public hospitals to go look for these resources, we might see an uptake in the charges that are being levied by the hospitals. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said, some of the concerns that have been raised by Sen. Osotsi are valid in terms of us strengthening devolution and making sure that there is proper oversight. This is because you are creating a management board and in terms of decision-making of how the resources that are retained are going to be used, key institutions such as the Controller of Budget might not have sight of those decisions. We are going to create a very powerful officer in the officers of the medical superintendent. This is because he is going to have a lot of powers to make decisions on the reinvestment of the resources that are retained at the facilities. There is also the problem that has been identified by Sen. Osotsi on the question of conflict with other existing laws. As a lawyer, I also know that any legislation that is passed by Parliament is on the same level as any other legislation. I do not think any Act can elevate itself beyond other Acts of Parliament because they are passed by the same House. You cannot say you are going to elevate one Act over the other Act when they are especially dealing with the same thing. I have seen a provision under Clause 3 on re-donation to other public facilities of non-financial receivables. Maybe, this is the only positive thing I have read in this Bill. In fact, if Kiambu Level 4 Hospital receives a donation that maybe they did not need or already have, for example, existing facilities like machines, they can then donate the non- financial receivables to another facility. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would take the view that more consultations need to be done because of those fears that we have, that it might result in unintended consequences and then see a plummet in the quality of services or an increase in the charges that are levied on mwananchi to access Level 4 facilities."
}