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"content": "before us. Given the fact the counties are devolved units, this Bill therefore, needed to be transmitted to the Senate. Thereafter, they were either to pass it the way it was, and then proceed with the signing where it would become an Act, or if they had any variations, it had to come back to this House. If we concurred with it at that moment, it would have gone ahead for signing and become an Act. The process is that when there are variations in terms of opinions between the two Houses as it happened last year, then a Mediation Committee is formed. Members of this House felt that they needed to make some changes to proposals made by the Senate. Making changes would mean that the process was not complete and therefore, the next leg of the job was to meet amongst ourselves in this House and the Senate so that we mediate and agree on the issues before us. We did exactly that, and I want to report before you, Hon. Speaker and this House, that we have worked around the clock. During the festivities, this Committee, which was also Co-Chaired by Hon. Bonnie Khalwale, the Senator for Kakamega County with the Membership of Hon. Catherine and GK from this House and other Members from the Senate, did its best to look for a solution. This is what I would wish my colleagues here to understand as its background. The Bill contains the additional resources that we give to our counties beyond the shareable revenue. It also has conditional grants. For example, the money that come from other external sources such as a project called Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP), which targets informal areas and has a tune of Ksh4.5 billion in this Bill. There are also other Funds that come to targeted sectors such as the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) whose implementation is also done through the county governments. As we are aware in this House library services are devolved, but as you usually find across many other sectors and functions that are devolved, some I would say, for lack of a better word, are semi-devolved. The national Government also has a role just as the county governments do in health and agriculture. Whereas they are devolved, the national Government has a pivotal role to play. There were funds for library services, which was the case previously, and we were able to discard the matter through this Mediation Committee. This is where the rubber meets the road. It is important that I bring this to the attention of Members. I am doing this so that we can understand why we went for mediation. In every scenario, you look for a tool in your hands to get what you do not have. When this matter came before us, there was another outstanding matter in this House which we thought was critical for us to handle using this Bill as a tool. There is something called the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF). This is a very important matter. I am the Member of Parliament for Kiharu, and together with my colleagues, the Members in this House, we are all equal. Members here are my colleagues. Therefore, in discharging our duties, it is important for me, as the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee and Member for Kiharu Constituency, to put it categorically that, because Members of Parliament care so much for Kenyans, there will never be a Bill brought to this House to deduct money from the National Government-Constituency Fund (NG-CDF)."
}