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{
    "id": 1626495,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1626495/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 171,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "is lunch, possibly dinner, while in another place, children are having to read using the lights of nature, the moon in the night and they do not even have places where they can sit. When this Constitution was developed, this fund was put there deliberately to help handhold those areas that were ignored and treated as though they are not part of Kenya, to also get their people and their children to have a hope in this country. We have been dilly-dallying and arguing around this. I blame Parliament entirely for the delay in the implementation of this fund. That is why I want to commend us that at least we have distributed it now the second time and despite the disparities that have been put in here, I think it is a good way forward. Madam Temporary Speaker, even as we look at the disparities in the manner in which this fund has been distributed, I would want to urge the Senate to actually come up with an oversight tool over this Fund. This is because this fund is supposed to be deployed towards basic services that are also county functions. We need to be able to pinpoint now the second year; when we go to Tana River County of Sen. Mungatana next year, we should be able to say the funds that were deployed under the Equalisation Fund were used to deliver A, B, C, additional to what the county government is doing. We need to be able to review to say if that was the best way in which we would have fast-tracked in terms of this county. Was that the most needy area that received these funds and, thirdly, is this the best way in which this fund should have been used? As we move forward, I would want you to note that water, health, roads, electricity and whatever other infrastructure that is contemplated to be delivered under this fund are county functions. So, we need to be able to have a timetable or a special schedule to monitor the manner in which this fund is actually bringing up the levels of development in a particular county. Eventually, this should also lead to the determination of changed poverty indices and changed parameters that we are using to determine the equitable share in terms of the nationally collected revenue. If we do not do this - and I am throwing a challenge to our Committee on Finance and Budget - we must be able to tell Kenyans the value of Equalisation Fund by clearly demonstrating that this is what it did in Turkana. As a result of deploying these funds for five years, Turkana was able to move from being measured at this level in terms of the poverty index to this other level. I am throwing a challenge to our secretariat, particularly the budget policy offices, to assist us to come up with a tool that can demonstrate the value of the Equalisation Fund. I do not know whether we have resolved, and we need to resolve, this fund was supposed to exist for only 20 years. Now that we have started implementing it, that 20 years I guess was contemplated from the time we operationalized the Constitution 2010. We need to have a deliberate pronouncement as Parliament on when this fund will come to a close. Again, my view would be one of the determinants of whether this fund should close or not should be a determination that we have achieved what the fund hoped to achieve. That is why in my view. We must measure very deliberately how this fund is 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."
}