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{
    "id": 1583228,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1583228/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 186,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "South Mugirango, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Silvanus Osoro",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "governments. We need to come up with a formula on how this money should be spent. It should have particular votes. For example, we could say that not more than 60 per cent of the amount should be used for recurrent expenditure or salaries. As we talk about Ksh415 billion going to the devolved units, and about 65 per cent of that amount is used for salaries and other recurrent expenditure. In their budgets, there is a lot of money for the governor's office which we cannot tell what it does. It is time this House thinks through such structures. If we are able to replicate the formula used on NG-CDF to the county governments, it will have meaningful impact on the people. As it is currently constituted, we send a blank cheque to them. We give them the entire Ksh415 billion and they have their own-source of revenue which they use the way they want. About 70 per cent of it does not impact people. That is the question we need to ask. As we talk about the formula, we should find a way to have the money trickle down to villages in a particular way with a specific vote. This will ensure we do not have a situation where some local leaders or Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) turn governors into demigods, that they have to worship and kneel before so that they can get development. That is why we are fast-tracking the Ward Development Fund so that county assemblies become autonomous. They do not need to rely on the office of the governor to have the funds. As I support this, I challenge this House to think about a legislation that will take this money to the counties with a particular vote so that particular percentages are allocated for specific votes. It should be a replica of NG-CDF. We should not let a governor decide on anything because there is no cap on what they can spend so that the money reaches the people. That is the discussion we should be having. I also challenge governors and the county governments to note that we are still struggling, even as we continue growing gradually. Today, we are at Ksh415 billion. We are still struggling. Kenyans who are watching us are also struggling to identify what these billions do in the counties and whether this huge amount of money is felt in the counties. We are still struggling to understand that. Before I sit down, I challenge counties like Nairobi, Mombasa and other big counties, whether they really need this amount from the Exchequer. Their own-source revenue is enough to fund five other counties. We need to ask ourselves that question. I was looking at Nairobi county government budget and I realised it is actually triple what Rwanda passes as a national budget. It is more than the budget of a whole country like Rwanda! Their own- source revenue is a lot. It is enough to fund many other county governments. So, as I support, these are the questions we need to ask ourselves. Do counties with big cities really require the national cake? How can we replicate the NG-CDF Act on county governments so that as we send money, it is spent on a particular vote and nobody will spend it on anything else. On the question of pending bills, we should emphasise that the vote is meant for pending bills only so that we do not need to form committees. What counties do is that immediately a new governor takes over, they form a committee that is also paid by the government, by their very own county fund, to review whether the predecessor had genuine pending bills. There should be a system that checks that and a committee should not be The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}