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{
"id": 1489913,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1489913/?format=api",
"text_counter": 58,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
"slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
},
"content": "especially when it comes to allocation to counties. While we agree that there are challenges in our county governments because of corruption, lethargy and poor governance, you do not need to undermine devolution by reducing the money that will go to our devolved units. Therefore, I thank the Committee on Finance and Budget for the good job of rejecting these deductions. I can see a number of Members in the House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as a former governor, you know many counties struggle to fulfill the basics of roads, bursary, water and access to drugs. Therefore, I want to agree, that it should be done while we agree that counties do not do the job. For example, in Nandi, in the financial year that we just concluded, my good friend, the Governor, purchased a mass grave for Kshs115 million, which cannot be located. When the county assembly asked about it, he said there was no need to buy a mass gravesite since people did not die. However, the money had been expended and the land that was bought cannot be located, yet Kshs115 million was spent. We allocate money to the counties, and, therefore, governors must be accountable to those monies and be prudent in use of the resources that we are talking about. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for example, in my county, in the Financial Years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, my Governor used Kshs310 million on foreign travel according to the Auditor-General’s report. One of the foreign trips he went on was to see how tarmac roads are done to bitumen standards somewhere in China, yet we know that county governments do not have the capacity to build tarmac roads, unless it is different in Migori. He also went to see where Jesus Christ was born, yet we Christians believe that Jesus Christ should be born in our hearts. These are the challenges that we face. We are asking governors, at any given instance, to use resources that they have prudently. Conditional allocations for the Financial Year 2024/2025 are to be decreased to Kshs15.4 billion from over Kshs61.9 billion. I do not agree with that. If you can recall, we sat in our parliamentary group meeting and discussed about the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF). We agreed that Kshs10 billion must be given to counties to help them improve the infrastructure to bitumen standards. The RMLF was to help towns like Kapsabet, Nandi Hills, Maraba, Kabiyet and Mosoriot where the contractor is doing a substandard job. We are having a ratchet-like tarmac road. It is the same case in Kaptumo and Kobujoi. The county should be given its share of Kshs10 billion through the RMLF to ensure that there is value for that money. Counties like Elgeyo-Marakwet, Isiolo and Nyamira cannot construct their county headquarters. About Kshs523.1 million was to assist them to do that. We visited Isiolo and noticed that the county headquarters construction has stalled because of revenue allocation that we give counties like Elgeyo-Marakwet, Isiolo, Nyamira and others. They do not have sufficient resources to allocate money for construction of county headquarters. There was a reasoning as to why we gave them about Kshs523 million, which has now been reduced to zero. I have not seen the distinguished Senator of Mandera County who is the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget. For Members who are here, did they consult with the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly? The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}