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{
"id": 298419,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/298419/?format=api",
"text_counter": 152,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
"speaker_title": "The Prime Minister",
"speaker": {
"id": 195,
"legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
"slug": "raila-odinga"
},
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, you will notice that the railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu has essentially defined what Kenya is today. Alongside the sustained struggle for democratic governance in our country has been the quest for equity in development across the country. Devolution is the answer to the quest for democratic governance and equity in development across the country. Devolution is the heart and soul of our new Constitution. At the core of devolution is the desire to promote democratic and accountable exercise of power characterised by self-governance, people’s participation and equitable sharing of national and local resources. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the realisation of our nation’s aspirations, under the new Constitution, largely depends on the successful implementation of devolution. It is important that this august House, and the public at large, continuously keep an eye on the evolution of devolution. Such vigilance is necessary to avoid a repeat of the mutilation of the Independence Constitution, which destroyed devolution. The twin threats to devolution are deliberate efforts to withhold adequate funding to support devolved functions and the establishment of parallel administrative frameworks to compete with the devolved system of administration. One may already sense that the anti-devolution winds are in the horizon. We must rise to defend devolution before these winds coalesce into a destructive force of undermining democratic governance and equity in development. Mr. Speaker, Sir, substantial legislative and administrative progress has been made in implementing the Constitution. The laws on devolution contemplated in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution have been enacted. The County Government Act, The Urban Areas and Cities Act and The Transition to Devolved Government Act are in place. The Members of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), the Transitional Authority on devolved governments (TA), the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and the Controller of Budget have been appointed. The delimitation of electoral wards matter is pending in court and will, hopefully, be determined soon. The question of financial and human resources to support county governments remain outstanding. While the Constitution provides broad guidelines on these two issues, nuts and bolts are yet to be worked out. The organisation, starting and functioning of the County Public Service, including the constitution of the County Public Service Boards, awaits the establishment of the county governments. However, it is necessary that the Public Service Commission (PSC) undertakes the necessary preparatory work that may inform the county governments in establishing their respective public service. This is necessary to extend the support to county governments to enable them begin to perform their functions within the shortest period after they are established. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Transition Authority (TA) should, quickly, work out a transitional programme to the devolved system of government. The TA must determine the resource requirements for each of the devolved functions, prepare inventories of the public assets and liabilities and arrange their transfer from the National Government or local authorities to the county governments. The TA must urgently assess the capacity needs of the county governments and advise the National Government on the kind of support needed to operationalise county governments. Sufficient revenue to county governments is like a mother’s milk to a baby. Without adequate fiscal resources, the county governments will not survive. Expenditure obligations on the county governments need to be supported by adequate revenues to finance such obligations. It is contemplated that county governments will have own sources of revenues and receive transfers from the National Government. Such transfers will include funds from the Equalisation Fund and budgetary allocations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the CRA, working together with the TA, need to prepare guidelines on how the programme’s specific transfers will be administered to strengthen the ability of county governments to deliver on their mandates. It may also be necessary for the National Government to directly implement some programmes at the county-level during the formative stages to assist the county governments to have a quick take-off. Tax administration at the national and county-levels will need to comply with the universally accepted taxation principle of maximum collection yield at minimum collection cost. Tax administration at both levels should be designed to encourage voluntary compliance by taxpayers. Decision as to whether or not tax collection fall and, on behalf of the National Government and the county governments, will be done by a single tax authority, need to be made. Consideration of factors such as capacity and competences in tax administration, and uniformity and simplicity of the tax system, will help to guide in making that decision. Whatever the decision, it is essential that some form of tax competition amongst counties is allowed, so that counties may compete for investment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the CRA, the Auditor-General, the Controller of Budget, the TA, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), and other relevant organs under the leadership of the CIC, should undertake the necessary preparatory work in this area. The burden of taxation is to be shared equally. Revenue raised nationally is to be shared equitably among the National Government and county governments. The burden and benefits of the use of resources are to be shared on the basis of intra-governmental and inter- governmental generational equity. The debate on how to share the national resource revenues among the National Government and the county governments need to begin now. This is particularly important, in view of the fact that there are resource-endowed counties and resource-poor counties. Then there is the question of off-shore resources such as those in the territorial sea, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and the sea beds. The newly legal regime envisages that land owners on whose property natural resources are found have a share of the revenue from those resources. Mr. Speaker, Sir, while the Constitution provides for equalization funds to remedy disparities in the development amongst counties, it has not defined the formula for sharing of natural resources revenues. We need to define such formula so as to avoid any potential conflicts over the sharing of natural resources revenue. Finally, without the necessary framework for fiscal responsibility, county governments may prove wasteful. The Treasury, the Auditor-General, the Controller of Budget and other organs of the Government must move with speed to put in place the requisite mechanims for financial accountability at county levels. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir."
}