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{
    "id": 1474457,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1474457/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 359,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "If that is the intention, then this amendment is what you would call in law, otiose . It is unnecessary. We do not need to be processing it. I wish that report was here. I told the Senate Majority Leader that I cannot trust intentions. I can only trust action and a report that has been tabled before the House. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if, indeed, it is true that the seconder of this Motion has convinced me and has demonstrated that it is the position of the Finance and Budget Committee that the Kshs401 billion that was allocated to county governments through a mediated process; will obtain, then let us not waste the time of the Senate debating this Bill. Article 96 of the Constitution obliges the Senate to represent and protect the interests of counties and their governments. That is our primary duty. This morning, Sen. Mumma and I had the privilege of joining the Devolution Donor Working Group. They were reflecting on the public finance management space in this country. We were reflecting on additional grants, which has become a problem and how to make effective transfers to county governments. This Senate has been called upon at critical junctures. Those of us who have been here from the 11th, 12th and now the 13th Parliament, we recall in the 11th Parliament, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale led a march to the office of the Inspector General of National Police Service to demand the arrest of governors who had refused to submit themselves to the Senate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Senate went to the Supreme Court to seek an advisory on the role of Senate in the division of revenue. This gave rise to ground-breaking jurisprudence that restored the right and the obligation that the division of revenue must be processed by the Senate. This is because when devolution started, some people thought that dividing revenue will be a National Assembly responsibility and allocating revenue would be a Senate responsibility. In the 12th Parliament, some of the Senators present although not many of them are here right now marched to the High Court in Milimani. We were led by the late Sen. Yusuf Haji, Sen. Amos Wako, Sen. Gideon Moi and other Senators who had never tasted teargas in their lives. On that day, they decided as they say; kama mbaya, mbaya. If we are going to face teargas on the streets in our march to the High Court, so be it. We went there and we secured a ground-shaking precedent that developed jurisprudence when it came to inter-governmental relations. It led to the collapse of a number of Bills that had been processed without concurrence of the Speaker of the Senate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this House should never preside over a session where the allocation of resources to counties is being reduced for reasons that counties have nothing to with. I say so because the basis for allocation and sharing is not the revenue that was supposed to have been collected in this financial year. I know Sen. Oketch has been trying to convince me and I disagree with him. The Constitution says that revenue shall be divided on the basis of the most recent audited accounts as adopted by the National Assembly. To that extent, it is the 2021/2022 revenue. In the financial year 2022/2023, revenue grew. We cannot then confuse ourselves with the drop of revenue in the financial year 2024/2025. We shall deal with it when we get to it. We shall apply a revenue growth factor on the 2023/2024 revenues on the day the National Assembly shall process and adopt the financial statements for 2023/2024. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}