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{
    "id": 1488292,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1488292/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 389,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Teso South, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mary Emaase",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I appreciate all the Members who have contributed to this very important Motion. They include my Committee Chair, Hon. Ndindi Nyoro. Listening to the Members who contributed to this Motion, it is very clear that we are sending a message to the senators that, the collapse of the Finance Bill of 2024 occasioned the shortage we are suffering. The county governments are not bearing the burden alone. The whole country is bearing the burden, because of the shortage that arose as a result of the withdrawal of the Finance Bill of 2024. All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had to cut their budgets. They had to sit down and rearrange their budgets to accommodate the little revenues because the anticipated revenue collection of Ksh346 billion was not tenable. All of us needed to adjust our budgets. For the county governments, the request is that you drop down from the agreed Ksh400 billion to Ksh380 billion. It is very reasonable because all the other departments have dropped down because of insufficient revenues. Secondly, Members have also raised concerns with respect to accountability. How accountable are you when you are pushing for more funds? Members have spoken about the aspects of efficiency. There are so many loopholes. How are you managing the few resources that are allocated to the county governments? How are you dealing with corruption in the county governments? How efficiently are you administering the few resources that you have? Hon. Temporary Speaker, Members have also raised concerns with respect to raising additional revenue or own-source revenue by county governments. We have commended county governments like that of Homa Bay for the tremendous improvement in revenue collection. Whereas they are pushing for additional funds, we are saying it is impossible for now because this is an extra-ordinary year. We have had to go through very difficult times. We know difficult times call for difficult decisions. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we have to live within our means. Kenyans have spoken. We cannot add more taxes. We cannot borrow more because doing so would mean coming up with more revenue-raising measures to pay the loans, give additional funds to the county governments and State departments. Therefore, I commend Members for their contributions. 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."
}