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{
    "id": 1613809,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613809/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 228,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "including leaders in this House at that particular time, made certain remarks that were considered offensive to counties with a smaller population. I still insist that in the same way that our colleagues from smaller sized counties are asking us to bear with them, they should also bear with us with regards to the weight allocated to population as a factor of the formula. It is extremely important because services are actually a factor of the number of human beings that live in a particular county. Number three, is poverty index. This is where I disagree with our Committee. I said it when we had our amendment here, that part of the reason we want our counties to succeed is that we hope that they will learn from the national Government. They should copy the things that have succeeded there and also learn from the mistakes of the last 60 years with regards to how we have managed the economy and this country and all the five administrations that have run this country. Poverty index is important because it addresses the issue of marginalisation and counties that have been left behind. However, let us face it. Fifteen years into the devolution cycle, we should begin to motivate counties actually to be inculcators or hubs of growth. Counties where we notice good fiscal effort that eventually translates to growth, should have a percentage of it as a reward. Madam Temporary Speaker, when we had our breakfast meeting with CRA last time, Sen. Moses Kajwang’, if you recall, it was a big debate that we were rewarding bad habits. They argued and said it feeds through disenfranchisement and decisions that have been made over the last 50 years and we said, okay that was fine. If you want to give the weight of poverty index at 18 per cent, at least shave two or three per cent to motivate counties that are doing better, so that they earn from a kitty knowing that if your fiscal prudence is worth being emulated by other counties, you should be rewarded. Fiscal discipline is the number one threat of county governments and the success of devolution. So long as a county government continues to spend more than half of its resources for paying salaries, they will continue to score high on the poverty index. Madam Temporary Speaker, then you want us to weight them and grant them this amount of resources? I disagree with the Committee. I had hoped that Sen. Omogeni and our colleagues that are moving us to make an amendment, that as you urge us to consider you, that at least you will factor the decisions and thoughts of yesterday’s Kamukunji, where colleagues were saying that we should find a way of rewarding good governance practice in this formula. The same way the CRA had proposed to us in the Third-Generation Formula, fiscal effort was being rewarded. Counties that get good certification out of audit reports were being rewarded because we are encouraging counties to grow. Counties that meet targets on own-source revenue, budget and maintain a balanced budget, observe their pending bills and ensure that they are within reach and managed in levels that are prudent, these are the counties that in the next five to 10 years, we will begin to see growth. The county gross domestic product of those counties will begin to edge over others. It will be possible for the people of Siaya to see the difference with the people of 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."
}