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{
    "id": 1565925,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1565925/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 340,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "such as Vision 2030. In Makueni County, we have the Konza City project, which we expected would by now be employing a large number of young people. We also have Thwake Dam, which has never been completed. It got stuck with only six per cent remaining. By now, farmers would be engaged in extensive irrigation, generating income for themselves and their families. However, the National Treasury fails to manage funds properly, and then offers the excuse that county allocations are only hitting accounts at the end of the financial year. It is clear that the counties have been unable to operate effectively. Then, the blame is placed on the Senate and the governors, with claims that they are not monitoring properly, yet it is the National Treasury and the CBK that delayed the funds. Additionally, numerous conditions are imposed so that by the time the money becomes operational, time has run out, and the same funds are sent back for re-allocation in the next financial year. This cycle of delays continues, yet the counties are unfairly blamed. The funds must reach the counties in good time. I believe that if counties and governors receive timely funding, they will be able to deliver. Likewise, we must also fulfil our role in properly overseeing the counties and ensuring that everything is done as required. There have been those administrative challenges. Yes, we have passed this Bill, there are monies at the national level and for the counties, but this money never gets to the counties in good time. The conditions given at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) are such that we end up not doing anything in the counties. This is not the making of the county government, national Government or the Senate. Therefore, it is important that the Senate, through this Division of Revenue Bill, does the necessary monitoring and summary of the relevant institutions to come and explain why the delays yet Kenyans pay taxes. Why would you waste time at the National Treasury and why would the CBK hold these monies and not release them in good time to the governors making it difficult for everybody in the country? If governance was very efficient, we would not have these delays and challenges. We really want to have responsible Principal Secretaries (PSs) Cabinet Secretaries and Directorates, especially in the National Treasury. That is where even the ministries have to go and beg and are taken around in circles by technocrats. Finally, projects like Thwake Dam and the many other projects in the country have not taken off. Recently, I went to Nyeri and realised the dual carriage to Nyeri town got stuck somewhere. For the last two years, very little activity has been happening. We do not want dual carriages going to Nyeri alone. We want dual carriages going to different parts of the country, so that there is easy movement of goods and services. It should not only be for certain regions. We want the Northern Corridor opened up. We went to Turkana County - I must thank the leadership of the Senate for this. It opened up our eyes. We did our Committee sittings there, we went to Lake Turkana and realised that the fish, which gives the thread that is used to operate on all people who go through surgery in the world, comes from Lake Turkana, in Turkana County. That fish is so important. You can imagine how rare that fish is and how rare that commodity is and we are the ones supplying the whole"
}