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"id": 1406056,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406056/?format=api",
"text_counter": 384,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
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"speaker": null,
"content": "half, and deny counties money by just giving them an additional of Kshs6 billion only, looking at the issue of the inflation and the interest rate in the commercial banks? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the other matter is on the issues of the CHPs, that we have in all the 47 counties. Currently, as we speak, the CHPs are earning Kshs6,000 only, a contribution by the national Government and the county government, yet we know very well that health is devolved. Is Kshs6,000 enough for them? Of course not, but it is something because they started with around Kshs3,000, then there was an increment to Kshs6,000. However, given the cost of living now, more money is needed for them. That aside, with the current amount that they are supposed to get today, and as my Chairperson had indicated earlier, the total budget for the issue of the CHPs is about Kshs3.2 billion for all the counties. If we do not prioritize, as far this particular amount is concerned, are we going to send our CHPs back home? Will they deliver the services that we expect from them? I have always said that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation because there is an important role that the CHPs undertake. It is very critical that we, as a committee, justify the Kshs415.9 billion. These are some of the issues that we have looked at. We had two ways of looking at this. Even before I go into the reasons as to why we have looked into some of these reasons, I will look at the issue of the annual salary increment. You know very well, in the contracts that are given by the counties to their staff, there is always a provision for salary increment every year. So, these monies cannot be constant. There is the cost of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). There is also the issue of the housing levy that we are all paying today. Therefore, that is an additional cost to the counties. Where is that money going to come from? As Senators, we agree to this figure, but our counterparts in the National Treasury and the National Assembly are not understanding why we came to Kshs415.9 billion. That is why we are trying to explain and tell them some of these facts. They are open. When you look at our base, there is nothing that is scientific and extraordinary that you need to understand. It is factual because all of us, as we speak, are paying the housing levy. It is a cost. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in our continuous deliberations as a committee, we had just looked at Kshs6.4billion as a percentage of economic growth, multiplied by the Kshs385.4 billion, which was the last amount that we gave to counties. Therefore, on that amount, we added the amount for the medical equipment, which is Kshs5.86 billion. Simple mathematics of addition, if you add that, you get Kshs415.9 billion. Apart from these other issues that we have tried to input and say that these are the figures, there is Kshs6.4 billion, which is an increment plus the medical equipment because these are monies that we brought to zero. Therefore, the addition of that then justifies the Kshs415.9 billion. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is an animal that we have been debating this week. I call it an animal because it is called the pending bills animal. Our colleague, Sen. Olekina, had brought this Motion and some of the issues that we raised, is the thorny issue of the pending bills. 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."
}