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{
    "id": 1550628,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550628/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 559,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Samburu West, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Naisula Lesuuda",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I hope that this time, in case there will be a mediation when this Bill goes to the Senate, there will not be much push and pull just for the sake of it or to look like a contest of who is supporting the county and who is not. It should be a matter guided by the facts presented before us. I must commend the Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Mbadi, who came before this Committee and presented to us the many factors that have led to the shareable revenue being the way it is. We cannot be a House of lamentations. We have to take over because every other time we have been discussing the Division of Revenue Allocation Bill, we have been talking about the last audited reports, yet it is this House that audits the reports. I think it is up to the leadership or one of us - I think I will take it up - so that the Chairperson of the relevant Committee can address themselves on this issue and tell us where the challenge is, and why we are not up to date with the audited accounts. Otherwise, it will just look like it is something that is done intentionally so that we are in the state we are in as a country. That is a question we must ask, and it should be answered in this House. We also cannot keep lamenting about the Equalisation Fund. We have to allocate money in this coming Budget to the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) so that it can quickly fast-track the review of the second policy because now they will be working on the third policy. We cannot keep lamenting while that money for the Equalisation Fund does not serve the intent or purpose it was meant for. There is always this thing we have as a nation, that if so and so is getting this, I also have to get it without really understanding why or what the intent was. There was a whole reason why there were 14 counties, but now they have shot up to - I do not know how many - 47 counties? We have gone even to the lowest level, the ward and the sub-location, where we are putting Ksh1 to 2 million worth of projects while the whole intention of the Equalisation Fund was to move the marginalised 14 counties from where they are to reach the rest of the country. Do not forget that those same counties now receiving the Equalisation Fund are also getting their shareable funds, county allocations and projects. If you also check, those are the same counties that are getting more money in the national Budget. We can also not continue lamenting about the Equalisation Fund. The CRA has to be funded to fast-track the third policy that will revert this trend. We are not even going to suggest anything else and if, as a House, that will not happen, we can as well get rid of the Equalisation Fund. Because every time there is a debate about something, we are told that we have the equalisation Fund. We would rather not have it if it will not serve the intent it was meant to. The other thing we must look at is the whole issue of revenue collection by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Because this is based on projected revenues, the other day, we asked the Cabinet Secretary whether we are over-projecting as a country and what leads to the shortfalls. We have to know whether it is loopholes we have to seal, corruption at the KRA, or also if we are over-projecting. We have to be realistic about what we foresee collecting and work hard towards ensuring that we collect those funds so that we can see the numbers going up when we share the revenues. In conclusion, I also want to talk about the prudent use of these resources when they go to our counties. Those given responsibility at the county and national levels of Government should be true to Kenyans by ensuring that the money allocated serves the intended purposes. When a government receives all its allocations for a financial year, how does it have a pending bill? If you receive your entire Budget, pay what you have committed. Pending bills will cripple business people, county governments and even the national Government. You should not pay 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."
}