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{
    "id": 1292116,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1292116/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 234,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Okiya Omtatah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. First of all, this Chamber needs some air conditioning. Some of us are very uncomfortable putting on neckties and we are not used to it in this environment. You need to do something about the air conditioning. The question of subsidies in this country needs to be rationalised. We have countries that are very heavy on subsidies but the Government does not involve itself in handling the product. The Government uses vouchers which are then redeemed at stores. The mess we get in issues of fertiliser as I was seeing in my county where the fertilizer was brought to Malaba, to get to Osieko, you have to pass through Busia and then Siaya by road. It makes no sense for somebody to travel all those kilometers to get fertiliser. These subsidy programmes should borrow a leaf from countries like India, which have very heavy subsidy programmes but use a voucher system. You can go to a regular store with a voucher and buy fertiliser which is discounted. The fellow who gets the voucher redeems it from the government in a very tidy manner. Secondly, this money that is being added to the other money given to counties through the Bill would not be happening if we paid particular attention to the Commission on Revenue Allocation Act, 2011. There is a definition there for revenue that blocks counties from accessing the revenue they are entitled to. We do not access revenue made by state corporations. That is national revenue. I urge this House to look at the Commission on Revenue Allocation Act, 2011 and define revenue to mean all taxes imposed by the national Government under Article 209 of the Constitution and any other revenue including investment income that may be authorised by an Act of Parliament but excludes revenue referred to under Article 209(4). That is okay because it is county revenue. There is no basis for excluding revenue under Article 206(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution which is made by various parastatals from the totality of the revenue to be shared. We need to look at that in order for us to have a bigger cake to be shared and our counties will be entitled to slightly more revenue than they are getting. The issue of leasing medical equipment is a tragedy. It is something that should have been stopped like yesterday. I have even gone around my county and found that this equipment can hardly be traced. It interferes with the capacity of counties to procure what they require. They procure and the money is used for leasing these equipment which they had no hand in acquiring. We need to free counties. If this money is given to counties, let them procure what they require on the ground. On the question of minerals, I am very saddened that Busia County has received zero allocation in revenues yet we are one of the biggest sources of magnetic iron ore that is lying idle in Samia hills. We also have gold being mined irregularly in areas like Bumutiru. The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration went there because there were major problems that have emerged with the haphazard mining of minerals. We expected that the Cabinet Secretary, having gone to the ground and seen the challenges, would have allocated resources to construct a police station to police the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}