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{
    "id": 1431533,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1431533/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 3889,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. This is a basic issue and I would implore the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee to listen to me. The fact that the Committee noted the need of counties is the basic issue. The basic issue is not whether people support devolution or not. The basic issue is the process of the Budget Policy Statement (BPS). When we consider BPS, we have a tremendous number of details from the national Government telling us the needs of the national Government, department by department and agency by agency. At that time, the National Assembly has no idea what the needs of the counties are. To a large extent, the BPS is a document of the National Assembly. In fact, it is a document of the national Government and not a document of the country. When we come to the Division of Revenue Bill, which is a direct product of BPS, we are actually guided by only two factors. Factor number one is the constitutional requirement of 15 per cent and factor number two is the formula from the allocation of CRA, whose details we do not know when we are discussing BPS at the National Assembly. So, what happens is that, depending on those two factors, we come up with a figure without knowing the details of the needs of county governments. The Chairperson of the Committee is right when he says that when they sat down they started to see the needs of county governments such as ECDs, health, irrigation and water. That is because we missed that information when we were discussing BPS. That is where the Division of Revenue Bill comes from. So, unless we look at that factor, this problem will be perennial. We will always have mediation in this process. The Senate actually has a better insight of what the needs of counties are than us and they understand emotionally and constitutionally that it is their duty to support counties. The National Assembly has no information and we make a decision on division of revenue on that basis. Therefore, we have to wait until senators refuse then we sit down. That is when we start to have an incline as the National Assembly, and not the whole National Assembly but only those who are involved in the negotiations. Hon. Temporary Speaker, this is where the problem is. It is a reflection that we have not implemented the devolution process properly. It also relates to what happens to the ministries. Some ministries are supposed to be devolved but still have national Government The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}