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{
    "id": 1613734,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613734/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Many of us who served as Senators in the 12th Parliament recall that the issue of the revenue-sharing formula was highly contentious. We experienced a prolonged stalemate on the Floor of the House, voting more than 13 times before reaching a compromise. Therefore, we must commend the Committee for ensuring that this time, the process is less controversial and seeks to carry everybody on board. The amendment to the Motion that I have moved this afternoon seeks to carry along the 11 counties that are disadvantaged that get an allocation that does not allow them to perform their functions optimally. As we all know, Article 29 of our Constitution enshrines the spirit of affirmative action. Furthermore, when we allocate resources, it is important that we be sure that the resources we allocate to our counties will support our devolved units to perform their functions. The spirit behind these amendments is to ensure that our big, rich counties carry along the smaller, poor counties so that we all move together. I am moving this Motion with the hope that we are not going to agree with the resolution of the National Assembly that is setting the equitable share at Kshs405 billion. I believe that our revenue collection has gone up. We urge our brothers and sisters in the National Assembly to support us, so that we are able to support our devolved units. Secondly, I thank our current President, His Excellency Dr. William Ruto, for having given this House the independence to deal with this matter without any intimidation from the Executive. I am saying this very candidly because we always know when there is interference. The problem we had last time is that the Executive tried to micromanage Senators. I appeal to the Executive to keep that spirit, so that we can deal with this matter as Senators who carry along the interests of all the 47 devolved units. Having said that, we also know that when we had a stalemate last time, it took an act of statesmanship from two great individuals; former President - Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister - Raila Odinga. Sen. Wambua will bear me witness that the compromise that we reached on the Floor included a commitment from the Executive that they were going to give us an additional allocation of Kshs53.5 billion. We got that increase on one financial year. So, this debate we are having with the National Assembly saying that we cannot increase the equitable share from Kshs387 billion to Kshs465 billion is what our Chief Justice will call hot air because it has been done before and it can be done again. I hope that our brothers and sisters who will represent us in mediation will push to ensure that we get an allocation of Kshs465 billion. When you break down the amount that we have proposed to increase, it is merely by deleting the figure Kshs2 billion that had graciously been allocated to these counties by the Committee on Finance and Budget and substitute Kshs2 billion with Kshs4.6 billion. We are just increasing it by Kshs2.6 billion. If hon. Senators support, if this amendment carries the day, the position remains as it is currently. There is no county that will be disadvantaged in any way, but would have supported the 11 counties each to get a small increase of Kshs400 million. I want to agree with the submissions that were made by the Senator of Nairobi City County that this increase should be sector-specific allocation. We do not want to give this money to our counties and then we find that the absorption is to employ The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}