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{
    "id": 1613817,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1613817/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "counties are getting less. That is not the concept of equity that this House is out to advance. Madam Temporary Speaker, now that the debate is with us, and I have said it would have been neater to first conclude. allow me to say the following. As I have said, it would have been neater to first conclude the Division of Revenue Allocation Act (DORA). The money that goes to counties is not just the equitable share that we approve through DORA; we also have the additional allocations. As a House, we must fight for the realisation of the constitutional rights and entitlements of local communities and counties, such as Kwale and Taita Taveta. Kwale County was supposed to receive approximately Kshs1.7 billion or maybe Kshs1.2 billion in mineral royalties. Every Kenyan is aware that Base Titanium has been extracting titanium from Kwale and exporting it to China, other markets, or Australia, wherever it may be. However, Kwale has never received a single cent from these mineral royalties. Taita Taveta has a lot of critical minerals in the soil. We should be pushing for realisation of that revenue rather than fighting over whether to ring-fence Kshs2 billion or Kshs4 billion. We should also be looking at own-source revenue. One of my best counties in terms of fiscal responsibility is a county represented by Sen. Kinyua. We have seen some good success stories from Laikipia County. I hope they will be sustainable. I hope when Sen. Kinyua takes over, he will sustain the momentum that past governors have put in place. Laikipia County has an own-source revenue of Kshs1 billion and they are calling themselves a small county. Why are you calling yourself a small county if you can generate Kshs1 billion in own-source revenue a year? The same applies to the mighty Homa Bay County. Why should we argue that these counties need Kshs6 billion when Laikipia County already has Kshs6 billion? One of the most creative proposals brought to this House was the infrastructure bond from Laikipia County. They had identified the projects they wanted to undertake, determined their costs and knew how they are going to finance it based on their own-source revenue of about Kshs1 billion. With this foundation, they could project forward, anticipating that within four or five years, they could access the markets to borrow Kshs5 billion or Kshs10 billion, fully aware of how they would repay it. These are the avenues we should be encouraging counties to pursue. I feel very pained on behalf of Sen. Omogeni. Already he has convinced us to ring-fence Kshs2 billion. Already Kshs187 million is going to Nyamira County, regardless of whether they have two or three assemblies. Whether the governor has a degree or not, he has already convinced us. Whether the governor is doing a good job or not, already he has convinced us. Sen. Omogeni, I would be very hesitant to give you a further Kshs200 million for it to be spent by two assemblies, some sitting under a tree and another one sitting in somebody's residence. I will not accept."
}