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{
"id": 1406061,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406061/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13199,
"legal_name": "Enoch Kiio Wambua",
"slug": "enoch-kiio-wambua"
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"content": "county government has committed to match a shilling for a shilling, up to Kshs250 million for the establishment of the industrial parks. What that means is that, cumulatively, Kshs11.7 billion of this Kshs391 billion proposed equitable share to county governments, will go into the industrial parks. The implication is that this is actually double the amount of increment that we have given to counties. Secondly, the national Government has, through Parliament, pushed the housing levy, which is not discretionary to counties. So, as the employers, counties will have to pay 1.5 per cent as contribution to match the 1.5 per cent contribution from every member of staff in the counties. There is also the SHIF, which again, is not discretionary to counties. They have to contribute for each member of staff under this cover. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that tells you that we are giving counties with the left hand, and with the right hand, taking away what we have given them and more. At the very least, the money that we allocate to counties in this coming financial year must be able to cover and reflect three main factors. It must cover for inflation; the time value for money, because the value of any currency, apart from the hard currencies, has a tendency of depreciating purely at the passage of time. The value of the shilling four years down the line cannot be said to be its value today. That inflation must be covered in this allocation. We must also look into the absolute growth in the budget. If we were collecting Kshs1.8 trillion and now we project to collect more than that, at 6.4 per cent, the allocation that goes to counties, calculated on the basis of the baseline for the last financial year, must reflect that growth in revenue. This is because the revenues that are collected nationally are collected from counties. It cannot be that the national Government benefits from growth in revenue in a manner that is completely disproportionate, compared to the benefit that goes to the counties. We must also base our allocation on the baseline, which is Kshs385 billion. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I urge my colleagues on this one. Today, I listened to the President addressing Members of Parliament. He was clear in his message that Members had gotten themselves good and modern offices, and they must recommit and rededicate themselves to serving their people. I have consistently listened to public pronouncements by the President and I have never heard him say - at least not in public - that a section of the membership of Parliament should serve him or his Government. I listen to him and follow his speeches in public places. He has always held the view that Member of Parliament (MPs) should serve the people. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not know where we lose it. Maybe, when Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale gets a chance, he will tell us where the rain begins to beat us. This is because we get to a point where, instead of doing that which we are elected to do, or instead of doing what the President is urging us to do in public, we do things that run contrary to the expectations after the instructions of the President. The President has told the Members of the Senate on the Majority side, the side that forms the Government, to serve their people. The best service for any Senator is to protect and defend devolution. In the words of one of their own, Sen. Mungatana, ‘you 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."
}