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{
"id": 1426385,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1426385/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13590,
"legal_name": "Murungi Kathuri",
"slug": "murungi-kathuri"
},
"content": "Pursuant to this constitutional provision, the Division of Revenue Bill, 2024 (National Assembly Bills No.14 of 2024) was published vide a Kenya Gazette Supplement No.57 of 8th March, 2024. This Bill was introduced in the National Assembly, debated and passed without amendments. Consequently, in accordance with Article 110(4) of the Constitution, the Bill was referred to the Senate for consideration. The Bill provided for the projected sharable revenue for FY 2024/25 at Kshs2.948 trillion. This revenue was proposed to be shared as follows; National Government Kshs2.540 trillion, county governments, Kshs391.116 billion; and, Equalization Fund, Kshs7.852 billion. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Bill was read for the First Time in the Senate on Wednesday, 27th March, 2024. Consequently, debated and approved with an amendment on Thursday, 2nd May, 2024. The amendment provided that the National government should be allocated, Kshs2.524 trillion, while the county government should be allocated Kshs415.952 billion. The amended version of the Bill was transmitted to the National Assembly for consideration. The National Assembly considered and rejected the Senate amendments on Monday, 13th May, 2024. Consequently, pursuant to Article 112(2)(b) of the Constitution, the Bill was referred to a Mediation Committee Pursuant to Article 113(1) of the Constitution, the Speakers of both Houses constituted the Mediation Committee comprising of nine members from each House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Committee was mandated to – (i) consider the Division of the Revenue Bill; and, (ii) attempt to develop a version of the Bill that both Houses will pass. The Committee sat and considered our mandate accordingly. I wish to report that the Committee held a total of three meetings. These sessions were lengthy since each party was focused on convincing the other and justifying that their proposed allocations were the best for consideration. The Committee made a number of observations as indicated in the Report, among them – (a) Devolution has played a critical role in the development of various regions in the country, and that devolution was working. The proposed allocation to county governments is insufficient and requires an increase. (b) In the effort to ensure expenditure matches the projected revenue collection, the national Government through the National Treasury and Economic Planning had rationalized the projected budget for the Financial Year 2024/2025. The projected total expenditure had been revised from Kshs4.1 trillion (as contained in the 2024 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) to Kshs3.9 trillion. (c) The trend in revenue performance in the current FY 2023/24 was not quite positive, there is increased debt service expenditure, and the national governments had the commitment to implement a fiscal consolidation plan targeting to reduce the fiscal deficit to an estimated 3.9 per cent of GDP in Financial Year 2024/2025. Members of the Committee; nine from the Senate and nine from the National Assembly, besides what they had arranged when they dropped the Bill, agreed that more resources needed to go to the counties. When we started negotiating, they had started 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."
}