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{
"id": 1520121,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1520121/?format=api",
"text_counter": 112,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Saku, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ali Raso",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I also rise to add my word to what my honourable colleagues who have preceded me have talked about. Article 204 of our Constitution is very important. In the Oxford English Dictionary, equalisation means to make two things equal. The framers of our Constitution had a very clear intent. Since Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965, it was intended that more productive parts of Kenya should grow faster. The rest were expected to catch up. Hon. Deputy Speaker, many times you sit in front there as a distinguished lawyer. At times, I see you having interjections on issues. I agree with you when I sit back to listen. There are things that appear good on the surface but when you do an incision, you find that they are not as good as they look from the outside. The Bill addresses only two issues on what the Equalisation Fund is all about. It is about the management of the Fund and extending the sunset clause. This is a budget-making House. We pass a Bill that allocates resources both to the national and county governments every year. A line reads “Equalisation Fund” within that allocation in the section of the national Government. Trying to cut this Bill with a pair of scissors may not be good enough for us to say that we should cut it into pieces to get the answer to the jigsaw. The answer lies in what the President did this morning. That is what Hon. Keynan alluded to. The President commissioned the signing of contracts for solar mini-grids that will cover 72 per cent of Kenya. The 131 projects will cost the Kenyan taxpayer Ksh13 billion. These are many resources allocated at a go. Had the Equalisation Fund been addressed and used as opposed to being penny-pocketed or brought piecemeal, today, we would have flagship projects in Turkana, Marsabit, Isiolo, Mandera, Wajir, Lamu, and other places. My concern today is that since Independence 60 years plus ago, this Government is constructing a tarmac road or a highway. Isiolo and Mandera is a distance of 800 kilometres where a population of close to two million people live. No one had seen that road as a necessity up to now. It was put aside in 1965 as it was not considered the most productive part of Kenya. They never produced tea, coffee, pyrethrum and sugar. Today, somebody in the name of William Samoei Ruto is saying that we are going to get solar and wind energy if we open up that part of the country and we will prospect for minerals. It is the frontier of development in Kenya. That is where Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) lie. Somebody is beginning to identify. Schedule Four clearly defines the roles of the national and county governments. The Equalisation Fund is drawn from the Consolidated Fund. It does not belong to what is allocated to the counties. Hon. Keynan said that the national Government should direct the Equalisation Fund to a hospital in Moyale and a power station in Mandera if it wants to achieve impactful projects through the Fund, so that Ksh3 million or Ksh5 million of the money is not just pilfered away, which at the end of the day, is a pinch of salt. Initially, this Fund intended to address inequality or marginalisation in 15 counties of the ASALs. Today, they said it should address pockets of marginalisation. The pockets will be in Kiambu, Nairobi, and Murang’a. Even in Uasin Gishu, where you come from, Hon. Deputy Speaker. It misses the thread of why we have this Fund in the first place. For that reason, I support this Bill. However, we as the Pastoralists Parliamentary Group will make our voices and positions known during the Third Reading. Finally, on the dissolution of the Regional Development Authorities (RDAs). In its wisdom, the Government saw that six RDAs, namely, the Kerio Valley Development Authority, the Ewaso Ng’iro North Development Authority, the Ewaso Ng’iro South 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."
}