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{
    "id": 1460780,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1460780/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 332,
    "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 to contribute. I rise to support the Division of Revenue (Amendment) Bill, which has come as a result of the circumstances that we have just gone through. It then gives us the opportunity to reflect on how we do our things and how to respond to the needs and feelings of our people so that, next time, we do not get ourselves into those circumstances. What we went through was not a surprise at all. It came along. We looked at it and we were told. However, we went our own way as if we elect ourselves to this House. This is justifiable because of what happened. We have to rise and reduce the funds that we can give out. In this case, the counties reduction will be about Ksh20 billion. It is unavoidable at this time. Traditionally, we make the budget and then we raise the money. Maybe, we should start thinking of raising the money and see how much we can raise, and then make the budget. That is just a thought. But whatever it is, the shortfall must be addressed. I will only raise a few things. The Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee raised an issue of what we should do when we have a shortfall or surplus. Logic dictates that if there is a shortfall or surplus, it should be shared proportionately. However, that should be under the assumption that all the money that we put in the books is released to the counties. Right now, counties can tell you that they are expecting huge sums of money, but it has not been released. If you are going to think of sharing the surplus and shortfall, we must also think of whether we appropriately and adequately release the funds. Hon. Temporary Speaker, whenever we discuss the Division of Revenue Bill, although this is just a revision, it always makes me think of whether we have looked at our devolution in details. It is now over 10 years, but you still see issues— that to some extent— are linked to the structures of devolution that we should have overcome by now. If you look at the functions up to today, we are still talking of whether we know what it costs to run the functions at the county governments. We had a Transition Authority that failed to do its job because of its structure. It was actually placed in a ministry, which was administrative. If you look at the legal aspect which 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."
}