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{
    "id": 1520360,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1520360/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 351,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mbeere North, DP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ruku GK",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The children of the community that I represent, who were born gifted and bright, are marginalised. They do not have opportunities like other children in the Republic of Kenya to fffffffgrow in an environment in which they can utilise their full potential. We are discussing a Bill on how some of those things can be achieved in different communities of our nation. Our administration should wake up and decide that moving forward, this is how our money will be allocated and utilised in the most prudent way to ensure that those who have been marginalised for many years can access social amenities that are available in other parts of the country. I do not think that we seriously need an Equalisation Fund law to achieve some of these things. We have the necessary institutions such as an extremely powerful Office of the President, which has been given powers by the people of the republic to prudently utilise resources. We can only amend the budget that is forwarded to this House by the Executive by a certain percentage, which is usually not more than 5 per cent. That demonstrates how powerful the Executive is. The Equalisation Fund is needed, but we also need to ask ourselves what it is that we have not done. How have we failed the people of the republic? Why should we have a semi-arid constituency of 771 square kilometres with only 38 kilometres of tarmacked roads in 2025? On the other hand, other areas have tarmacked road coverage of about 70 to 80 per cent. In their wisdom, the framers of our Constitution included a provision in our laws for the Equalisation Fund. The people of Kenya promulgated the Constitution in agreement. It has now been over 10 years since we promulgated our Constitution. One of the things that we were supposed to do immediately as a House was to ensure the Fund could be utilised. However, it has taken us ages to actualise it. It is shameful. We are letting down the people we represent. The Constitution was promulgated in 2010. It is now over 10 years, a decade later. The Constitution made provision for the Equalisation Fund, but we are failing our people in many aspects. It is very important that we up our game as a House and as leadership. Finally, we have many funds at the moment like the Women Development Fund, Youth Fund, Consistency Development Fund, and many more. We have several funds that have been enacted through our laws. We are now coming up with another fund that we are giving a very nice name of the “Equalisation Fund.” 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."
}