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{
    "id": 1613735,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613735/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 154,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "relatives or friends of our governors. If we give this money to these 11 counties, it should be for sector-specific allocations, so that the money is used to spur development. If Governor Oparanya is doing a tarmac road from Kakamega to Vihiga County, if we give this money to the Governor for Vihiga, Hon. Otichilo, he should also do the tarmac road because that is the intention of this money. This is an affirmative initiative, so that the big counties do not move alone. If we want to connect these counties to do business, if Kakamega is doing a tarmac, let Vihiga do it and let Nyamira do the same. I am happy to report, for the comfort of this House, that the wars we have been seeing in Nyamira--- People may ask, if this money goes to Nyamira, which county assembly will appropriate it? Is it the one called mashinani, or is it the one that sits in the county headquarters? If you follow news, you must have read in The Standard newspaper of today, that yesterday, the High Court sitting in Bomet made a landmark decision and it nullified everything to do with Bunge Mashinani in Nyamira. Therefore, I want to assure Senators who will support this quest that the money that you will send to Nyamira will be appropriated by one county assembly sitting at the gazetted county assembly premises in Nyamira and not the one you have been seeing sitting in people's residences. I want to give that undertaking and I hope my Governor is watching these proceedings. We do not want that embarrassment. Yesterday, when I heard that rumour that a judgment had come out clarifying where the assembly should be sitting, I requested this Motion to be stepped down, so that I could deliver the good news to our hon. Senators. This is because we want this money to be used for the benefit of the people who reside in those 11 counties. In fact, we were proposing that if we are able to get this money for these 11 counties, we should have something we call action-taken reports. We must tell them to report back to us how they have used this money. The fear amongst us is to give money to our counties and then the money goes to the pockets of a few people and not for the benefit of people who reside in those counties. As I head towards concluding, I want to also tell the Senators that the people who enacted the 2010 Constitution had a lot of faith and trust in us elected parliamentarians. In India, when revenue is being shared between states and the union, the recommendation of the Finance Commission of India is final. However, luckily for us, when Kenyans enacted our 2010 Constitution, the last task of sharing revenue was placed in the hands of us, the elected leaders. Even if you go to Australia, I think they call it the Commonwealth Grants Commission of Australia. Once they make a recommendation on how money is to be shared between the union and the states, Parliament has no say. In this country, under Article 215, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) merely makes a recommendation. The people who have the last say, is us, Senators. I want to appeal to our colleagues, all the 47 Senators, to stand with your brothers and sisters from these 11 counties. Imagine while my brother, Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget and Senator for Mandera, gets a cool Kshs12 billion, our brother from Lamu gets Kshs3.2 billion. When you talk to the Senator for Lamu, he tells you that money barely pays salaries, fuels vehicles and if they are lucky, buy some medicine here and there, it gets depleted. The same applies to Isiolo County. If this 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."
}