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{
    "id": 1400460,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1400460/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 148,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "from the annual Division of Revenue Bill, where we send funds after the horizontal division between the national and county governments, it seeks to add more to the pots of the counties, so that they can deliver services to the people of Kenya. The National Rating Bill was published in the Kenya Gazette Supplement No.185 of 2022 and passed by the National Assembly on 11th October, 2023. Thereafter, the Bill was referred to the Senate for consideration. The principal object of this Bill is basically to provide a legislative framework for the position of property taxes on land and buildings by county governments pursuant to Article 209(3) (a) of the Constitution. Madam Temporary Speaker, there are many times that this House has discussed, yet I have not seen some Senators raising this issue. In some counties, the Governor post big billboards stating that they have given the people free penalty waivers, free land rates and such, trying to do what you would consider populist politics without knowing that they are denying revenue to develop our counties. It is because of the absence of national legislation that guides how this process is done, that counties are unable to build and back up their revenue sources. This is an opportunity for the county governments to think through. It provides a buoyant source of revenue for county governments. The revenue is necessary to enable each county government to perform its functions as assigned by the county governments. Sen. Mungatana, and other Hon. Senators, I do not know of a county government that meets its Own Source Revenue targets. If, as a House, we do not take deliberate space and time to ensure we guide our county governments by providing national legislation, which will guide how this exercise will be done across the country--- We have tried it in the three terms of devolution from 2013 to 2017, 2017 to 2022 and presently. If we leave it to the talents or lack of the same, of our various county governments to find ways of raising Own Source Revenue, then we know what the results are. We know that there are very few county governments that have grown their Own Source Revenue since the inception of devolution by an equation similar to what economic growth is. Many of them to the utter dismay of colleague Senators and members of the public have their Own Source Revenue sources dipping despite the fact that people continue to pay taxes and land rates. Therefore, as a House we must begin to move in this direction as is provided in this Bill of providing a universal practice that applies across all the 47 counties. Do not leave it to your county governments alone. That is a responsibility we must take up as a Senate with all the zeal and seriousness. In fact, after we are done with this one, it is my sincere hope that as a House we reflect on what the standards are for collecting other forms of taxes on Own Source Revenue. Is there a way to standardise and ensure that there is legislation such as the Bill that is presently before the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget over a unified system of collecting these revenues especially electronically? Madam Temporary Speaker, you can recall that at the inception of this administration, the President stuck to his guns and led the government in insisting that all government services must be paid via the E-Citizen platform, there was all manner of hue and cry. However, somehow many of those noises have since disappeared. Maybe 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 and AudioServices, Senate."
}