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{
    "id": 1408703,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1408703/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 151,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orwoba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "As I rise to support this Bill, I have really thought through some of the sentiments presented by my colleagues. Is devolution really working? I ask this because we are a House that ensures that the funds sent to counties are benefiting the people there. If devolution is working, then why can we not see the two per cent disaster management funds allocated to counties, money that is currently in their bank accounts working? Even as I rise to support this Bill, I have to be alive to the fact that we need to ask ourselves very difficult and pertinent questions. Devoid of this, we will continue sitting here and passing these revenue allocations to the county governments, while nobody is holding any of these accounting officers accountable. I just want to reference some of the reasons that informed the Kshs300 billion. Due to certain political and geographical reasons, our economy was unable to meet the targets in terms of revenue collection. There is also a reference of how we are affected by the Dollar exchange rate and the issues that come with that. In Section 9(e), some of the reasons that influenced this are low ordinary revenue collections attributed to the ongoing geopolitical shocks. They include the Russia- Ukraine War and the United States Federal Reserve’s interest rate. Also indicated is that we have financing constraints due to limited access to finance in the domestic and international financial markets. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not think our governors out there are alive to this fact. Every day, we talk about own source revenue; how our counties are supposed to ensure that they are generating revenue and their projections are going higher, yet none of these governors are interested in that. Yesterday, I was having conversations with my peers and some governors. I was questioning the whereabouts of the disaster management money. Where is the two per cent allocation? In fact, this morning, the Governor of Nairobi City County has been quoted saying that Sen. Gloria Orwoba does not know anything about governance or oversight, yet today, in the House, I heard Sen. Sifuna confirm that indeed, Nairobi City County has about Kshs900 million allocated for disaster management. We are unable to see what this money has done. What we saw is the Governor of Nairobi City County, hon. Sakaja, go out and pay transport for children stranded in Nairobi to go back home. That is not Kshs900 million. 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."
}