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{
    "id": 1520395,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1520395/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 386,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Chesumei, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Paul Biego",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the Bill. Before I do that, let me also take this opportunity to join my colleagues in mourning our colleagues, Hon. Cheptumo, who is the Senator of Baringo, and our very own Hon. Injendi. May Hon. Injendi’s soul rest in peace. He was a very close Member to me. Today being Wednesday, you know that you and I really missed him in church. Members, we have mass every 7.30 a.m. on Wednesdays. We really missed him. May their souls rest in peace. I want to use this opportunity to support the Bill even after lawyers have talked and tried to intimidate us. They are speaking as if they are in court. I am one of the Members of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning. At the onset, I rise to support the Bill in totality. It seeks to provide administrative structures to manage the Equalisation Fund established in Article 204 of the Constitution. It establishes the Equalisation Fund Advisory Board. The Bill also seeks to apply structures and responsibilities of bodies or officials tasked with administering the Fund. I believe this legislative amendment will help make the Equalisation Fund more visible. I have heard many of my colleagues say that they have not seen or appreciated the Equalisation Fund, but if it is not allocated to your county, you might know very little about it. It is currently allocated to only 14 counties. We need to discuss the amendments that we should propose so that the money that is allocated under the Equalisation Fund is well utilised. The Bill will help to provide basic services including water, roads, health facilities and electricity to marginalised areas to ensure that those regions can access the same services enjoyed by other areas or counties that are not marginalised. The Bill also seeks to provide for sources of funds. As you were making your presentation, you mentioned the typographical error, which needs to be corrected. The amendments are correcting it by including the term “one-half per cent of all the revenue collected by the national Government”. I support the Bill in totality. The Bill also requires a representative nominated by the Senate to sit in the County Technical Committee. That has been amended and replaced by three members from organisations working with the counties. That would be better than having a representative from the Senate. I also support that amendment. The composition of the three people whom the Committee has proposed is good because there will be a representative of people living with disabilities (PLWDs) unlike what was previously in the Bill, which had no representation from that group."
}