Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1427257,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1427257/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 335,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13588,
        "legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
        "slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
    },
    "content": "Secondly, the county treasury is just an entity in counties. This decision to come up with this system is a bigger decision that requires the input of the County Executive. So, we should not make it as a preserve of the county treasury. We need to say that the County Executive will be taking the lead in this. This is because a county treasurer is a junior member of the county. He reports to the Chief Officer and CEC, Finance and Economic Planning. Those are people who are supposed to make substantive decision regarding financial matters in the county. So, we cannot keep them off this. We need to amend that so that we give this power to the County Executive. The requirement that reports be presented to the Senate and County Assembly is very timely. However, I have a problem with presenting the reports to the National Treasury. This again, makes counties subsidiary to the national Government. The issue of the transfer of functions and their cost is one of the areas that this Senate must take the lead. We have been taken in circles on this matter. Even the current regime, the Kenya-Kwanza regime, among the many promises they made to Kenyans, I remember one of them was that within six months of them coming to power, they will ensure 100 per cent transfer of functions. That has not happened. We are now in the second year, and there is no sign that that will happen. I remember last year, the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) said the same thing. That they were almost finalizing and one month away to transferring functions to the counties. However, they have not done that. It was just a talk. This is a conversation that we must take the lead as a Senate and push it. We have so many functions which are in the national Government, and they should be in the county government. We are not just talking about transfer of functions. This Bill is now giving us the legal mandate to say that money must follow functions. We are not just transferring functions. I ask governors to be very careful on how they engage the national Government on the matter of functions. This is because nowadays, the national Government has now devised another way of controlling devolved functions. They have now come up with what we call counterpart funding where they say we are going to give you 50 per cent and give us 50 per cent. A good example is the funding for Community Health Providers (CHP). In most counties CHPs they have not been paid a stipend. For the last three months, CHPs in my county have not been paid because of the delay in releasing the 50 per cent counterpart funding by the national Government. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have also seen the issue of industrial parks where they said counterpart funding is 50 per cent. Most of the money has not been taken to counties. The projects that were launched are still lying there. They are going to become white elephants. We ask our governors to try and avoid getting into agreements with the national Government under the pretext of counterpart funding. Funds must follow all the devolved functions, even for liquor. 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."
}