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{
    "id": 1585489,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1585489/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 989,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity. I join my colleagues in appreciating this Bill. Being a Senate Bill, it is of much interest to me. Our Constitution clearly states that the Senate exists to serve the interests of the counties. Even though we are discussing this Bill today, I believe it is long overdue. It should have been one of the Bills that the Senate processed as early as 2014. Why am I saying that? If you take the example of this House and the Executive, the reason we can carry out our programmes and activities with some success is that we control our resources as a Parliament. When you talk about financial autonomy for counties, particularly for county assemblies, you will realise that this debate and that of the Ward Development Fund has been with us for a long time. I now see a situation where we are likely to conclude one of these debates once this Bill passes. We will then remain with the law on the Ward Development Fund. I want to make a few observations. The truth is that if you are not financially independent, you are unlikely to be independent in terms of decision-making. If you are relying on the county executive to finance your activities and programmes, then you are not likely to have the freedom to stand your ground and say this is wrong. The fact that we are now seeing an attempt for the county assemblies to become financially independent is something that the House should support. It is good that we are talking about a county assembly account where the county assembly's money will be sent after we pass the budget. I see this playing out similarly to what happens in this House. The county assemblies will present their budgets to the Budget and Appropriation Committee in the county assembly, just as Parliament does to its Budget and Appropriation Committee. Once their budget is approved, those resources should be sent to their account to be utilised. Another interesting issue we have proposed is that the Controller of the Budget, just as she does with other funds drawn from the Consolidated Fund, be responsible for budget monitoring to ensure that resources are used for relevant activities and programmes. Over time, 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."
}