Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1565545,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1565545/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "not corrected, then it means the counties are not getting equity as required by the Constitution. Equity is the word. There is no way you can raise Kshs2.7 billion, adjusted to inflation and then you give the national Government 85 per cent of that money because there is augmented reasoning around finance. This House must insist on this. I want to wish the Majority Leader and the Majority whip the courage. If they cannot confront their counterparts in the National Assembly by day, they must confront them by night and have this conversation around audited reports. If we use the latest audited report, counties should be able to get Kshs 470 billion. From this, if they were approved as they were from last year. This is a very pertinent issue that I wanted to stress on. As I finish, I think it is very important that I mention that we cannot miss an amendment on money that goes to the Equalisation Fund. The Equalisation Fund established under Article 204 is facing a serious sunset. The monies that are owed for the Equalisation Fund, apart from the fact that it will be 20 years gone without being able to make remedy of Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965, where counties did not get proper adjustments in terms of roads, water and electricity that was envisioned by that particular Article, there is an urgency in terms of making sure that money works. If you allocated money for these counties to do roads, electricity, give water in 2013 and it was not given and the national Government owes that money to counties up to date, what is the value of that money now compared to if it had been released in 2013? Will these northern frontier counties that were affected by this Sessional Paper ever get their fair share and the equitable development that they need to get? I doubt because the value of money keeps on changing. Consequently, because the CRA under Articles 116 and 117 has been given the mandate to help restructure cooperation around the Equalisation Fund, there are some pockets of communities that equally face some form of marginalisation. For instance, where I come from, if you go to a place like Komosoko Nyamosense, the people of Kuria have faced serious marginalisation. If you come to Nyatike Sub-county, the people of Muhuru Bay have faced some form of marginalisation. The people of Sori have faced some form of marginalisation. If you go to Kuria East in Migori County, a place called Masangora has faced some form of marginalisation. Accordingly, in its wisdom, the CRA saw that they should be included in this Equalisation Fund. I know that up to over 34 counties, including where my good Senator from Kakamega comes from, there are some places that people still live in pathetic areas and lifestyles, without basic human needs. These are water, roads and electricity. This is becoming a strategic debt. I am saying strategic because the national Government has constantly secured this Fund and never given money to the counties. Therefore, the Equalisation Fund must go back to the counties."
}