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{
    "id": 1431540,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1431540/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 3896,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sigowet/Soin, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Justice Kemei",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for the opportunity you have given me so that I can express my support for the Mediated Version of the Division of Revenue Bill. At the outset, I thank you for your pronouncement that we Members of Parliament who come and queue from 9:00 a.m. in the morning should get a fair opportunity to speak to the issues that are being debated. All said and done, the Mediated Version of the Division of Revenue Bill is a product of intense discussions between the Senate and the National Assembly. I want to thank Hon. Ndindi Nyoro and the Co- Chairperson who have made sure that, at least, we get this Bill before the National Assembly so that we can release money to the counties for their projects. As we do so Hon. Temporary Speaker, I want to be on record saying that the National Assembly and most of its Members do support devolution. Even as we do support devolution, we do not support pilferage, wastage and corruption. Those are vices we which we, as the National Assembly, must continue to fight. We also want to clear the impression that we do not support devolution. We support it as much as the Senate supports it. I thank the people of this country for the wisdom which they put into the 2010 Constitution. They created a Bicameral Parliament that is horizontally divided. They did not create the upper or lower House. They did not create a House of Lords or House of Commons. They created a Bicameral Parliament that works for the welfare of the people of this country. Finally, I want to touch on two issues as I wind up my contribution. Firstly, is on agriculture. I would like the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee to pay attention. Agriculture is a devolved function. Hon. Temporary Speaker, can I have the attention of the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee? Agriculture is a devolved function. As much as it is a devolved function, we do not know as a country the aggregated amount of money that is devolved to agriculture. We at the national level are appropriating close to 4 per cent of our budget to agriculture. How much of the budget is being devoted by the county governments? How much of that is coming from our partners at the international level who support agriculture? We need to know that as a country. As a country, we want to know whether we meet the 10 per cent threshold which was given by the Maputo Declaration on expenditure in agriculture. In terms of the economic growth of this country, the economy grew by 5.6 per cent in the last one year. The contribution of agriculture is around 19.8 per cent, which is almost 20 percent. If we invest more in agriculture, we should be able to spur the economic growth of this country. At the moment, internationally, we rank second in terms of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We can get to number one if we spend more money on agriculture. The Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee noted earlier in his presentation that we are giving Ksh4 billion towards fertiliser subsidy. As we subsidise 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."
}