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{
    "id": 1489973,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1489973/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 118,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, what is the ripple effect of that action, if you are telling the county governments to deprioritize whatever money they have for Community Health Promoters and put it somewhere else? We shall start seeing Community Health Promoters not being able to go to homes and identifying problems of women who are supposed to get clinical services early enough before they get to situations whereby, they need neonatal care at birth. This is where you are going to start facing serious complications in families. Before you realize mothers will be dying during child birth, right in their homes without going to hospitals because they will not be able to get assistance by the Community Health Promoters. We shall have serious and multiple complications in our health care system to the extent that a family that could have used the services of a Community Health Promoter to avoid a health complication will have a complication that will require more money to be able to get proper treatment to deal with the complication. We are talking about serious stuff here that I think that the National Assembly must be invited to a table where they can understand that this idea of defunding counties is completely counterproductive. You cannot keep on reducing monies from counties and then denying them the basic services that they need to do. That reduction is completely ridiculous. For instance, in Migori County in the Financial Year 2023/2024, the additional allocations to Migori County was Kshs394,621,807. Then, drastically, you suggest that Migori County should now get Kshs176 million. Look at how drastic that change is. It is over 50 per cent. Since counties run as an ongoing cases, projects and programmes that were started last year in Migori County will be forced to cut that by 50 per cent. It is not possible. It is only possible if you force them to do away with staff that were already committed in those projects. Madam Temprary Speaker, I would like to urge this House that, even as we take this Bill and go to mediation, to start an advocacy programme with the National Assembly to help them understand that these cutbacks are not cutbacks. They are proper defunding to counties, that is not in the spirit of devolution and of making sure that our children in these respective counties can get basic services. Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, I reject in totality, the idea that we can even cut a shilling from counties. We cannot do that because we know if we do, counties will not have alternative ways of raising money in whichever way. I thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity and I hope that we will make sure that the amendments that are proposed by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget to this Bill that was proposed will be implemented. Let us stand strongly because now we are going to face a situation where we have two Bills that we must reject. We are going to reject this Bill and the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) Bill that was proposed, so that we stand firm with the money that is supposed to go to counties. I thank you."
}