HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1406067,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406067/?format=api",
"text_counter": 395,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 170,
"legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
"slug": "bonny-khalwale"
},
"content": "It is not just Nairobi; what is happening in Mombasa County? Where is the money? Mombasa County sits on one of the biggest ports in Africa. Where is the money for Nakuru, Kiambu, Machakos counties, and the good old Kakamega County? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Kakamega is not a small county. When you used to live in Kakamega County, you were a small boy, who did not know where you were living then. Kakamega County is not child’s play. It has Mumias Sugar Company, an economy of Kshs24 billion. West Kenya Sugar Company is close to Kshs14 billion. Butali Sugar Company controls Kshs10 billion. I have not stated returns from other areas like gold mining in Lurambi, Ikolomani and Shinyalu. Kakamega County should declare a minimum of Kshs2.5 billion as own source revenue. We do not understand what happens. I encourage governors, especially the one of Narok County, where Sen. Olekina has tabled a Motion on pending bills. They should understand that there is no magic and it is common sense. Dear governors, if you pay pending bills, it means those who delivered services reinvest in that county's economy. It is akin to a businessman who makes a profit in his shop, reploughing the money in the shop. The shop ends up growing faster. If the businessman does not replough the profit from the shop and takes it to do other things, the shop goes down. This is how our counties that have governors’ shops are being treated. I would like to end my contribution with two small points. Firstly, nobody has spoken about the issue of the equalisation fund in this Bill. This fund will get Kshs10.8 billion. I do not know what happened to the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) when I was away. They convinced this House that the end users of the equalisation fund should not be the 14 counties from the ASAL areas, which we had identified at the Committee on Finance and Budget. They spread the fund thin to 34 counties. Therefore, we have an additional 20 counties competing with counties that deserve this money and they have spread it thin, hence the benefit cannot be seen. How I wish that after this financial year, this House can agree with me, so that we become nationalists and allow these counties from the ASAL areas to enjoy this fund preferentially. What joy do you get when you see small boys from Wajir or Turkana County stopping you by the road, as we saw when we were there during the conference.I wondered why they were stopping me. I said, I will be stopping and each one of them asked for water. You give the small boy a bottle of water, his face lights up, he then hides the bottle behind him and brings another hand because he wants one more bottle. These were the things that this fund was supposed to address. I find Murang’a on the list of counties sharing the equalization fund. Why would people in Murang’a, where President Kenyatta took piped water many years ago, be competing with the people of Turkana, unless you want to change the nationality of Turkanas to go to South Sudan or wherever you want them to go? We have to be nationalists. This is the House of equalization. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I appeal to the KRA to rethink, so that nobody in Murang’a thinks I am against them. Even the good old Bungoma is on that list. In Bungoma, we enjoy nine months of rain, 12 months in a year. Why would we fight for 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."
}