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{
    "id": 1491383,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1491383/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 154,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13590,
        "legal_name": "Murungi Kathuri",
        "slug": "murungi-kathuri"
    },
    "content": "for Finance. Also, you must realize that the CECM for Finance is a “puppet” of the governor. Let me not use that word, but the governor's person who is administering his finances. If that county assembly has issues with the governor, you must realise that that money will never be released. It will be starved of resources and it can be very diminishing to the county assemblies. Mr. Speaker, Sir, all these county assemblies sat down and felt that the only saviour was the Senate. It is the Senate that can amend this law so that counties be able to get their financial autonomy. The County Assemblies Forum (CAF) and other organizations in the assemblies came to me and they requested that we support them, so that they can access their money directly. Through this process, I would want to thank the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget, headed by my friend, Sen. Ali Roba. We worked with them day and night. We even made a stakeholder forum some months ago and very many stakeholders appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget. We deliberated on these pros and cons for almost one day, from morning to evening. Some of the stakeholders who attended the stakeholder’s forum include the Office of the Controller of Budget, The National Treasury and Economic Planning, the Council of Governors, the Commission of Revenue Allocation, the County Assemblies Forum (CAF), and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). All these stakeholders and valid submissions, but at the end of the day, it was really necessary. It was agreed that it is really necessary to have this amendment Bill go through. Unfortunately, some county assemblies that have a very high own-source revenue like Nairobi City County, Mombasa and Narok have a different view. Where there is delay of release of money by the National Treasury, they go to the governors and borrow from the own source revenue so that they are able to function. Therefore, they felt that if this money is taken to the National Treasury directly, then at some point they will not have that advantage to request for favours from the governors through the own source revenue account. During these deliberations, I told them that they cannot have their cake and eat it. They must agree what they want as county assemblies. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the autonomy of county assemblies is very critical. If I quote Article 185 (3) of the Constitution, it says:"
}