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{
    "id": 333421,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/333421/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 558,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I rise to support this Motion that is seeking the adoption of the Budget Report. I must say that this was a negotiated position where I was and I argued very strongly in favour of at least 50 per cent based on population. However, in the spirit of give and take, I conceded. I want to point out, at the risk of being repetitive, that the whole essence of devolution is to secure equity in this country. It is imperative that the parameters that will help us realize this equity are strictly and accurately arrived at. The issue of statistics is very important. The population figures must stop being politicized and we must devise a way of getting our population correct if we are to use it as a parameter of resource distribution and for planning. You will remember that we have assigned certain weights to poverty. Sometimes it is fashionable to be poor and sometimes it is a disgrace to be poor. When it comes to resource allocation, everybody wants to be poor because while we go the direction of using poverty as a parameter of resource distribution, figures get altered on the way. So, it is important for the Executive to appreciate the need to come up with very accurate poverty indices in this country. The Constitution says that not less than 15 per cent shall be allocated and delegated to the county governments. Further, the Public Finance Management Act says that whatever amount that we shall allocate to the county governments, not less than 30 per cent shall be dedicated to development. We realize that we wanted to cure the imbalance in development in this country, not by bringing down the areas that are developed, but by bringing up the areas that are undeveloped. If now we only leave 0.5 per cent dedicated to equalization, it is going to take this country a long time to correct this historical injustice. There was a strong argument for the allocation to land mass. I strongly opposed it but I was persuaded, and I must say that I conceded to the persuasion. But it is important that this country develops a policy whereby we can have nuclear villages to make service provision cheaper. You can imagine how much it would cost to electrify Isiolo County and Moyale County because there are far-flung villages and the lines must run through the vast land. The other thing that I must emphasize is that we all form governments so that we can provide services to the people. As such, I want to emphasize that the focus should be service delivery to the people of Kenya. That should be one of the most leading parameters in resource allocation. In arriving at this, we were given various scenarios locally and even internationally. I am glad that this thing is subject to review in three years’ time. I hope in three years’ time, we shall have generated more accurate parameters and then we shall seriously be tackling the issues that we intend to tackle. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I cannot finish without talking about legality in the management of the resources that we are going to devolve. Arising from this, I expect the Minister for Finance to come up with the Revenue Division Bill and subsequently, the Revenue Allocation Bill. The people on the ground are eagerly waiting to see the implementation of the devolved chapter of this Constitution but we see some inertia with the Executive in actualizing this. My friend, Mr. Githae, is on record as having said that Kshs160 billion is waiting to hit the bank account of the county governments on 5th March, 2013. I have looked through the Budget and I have not seen that money. It is important that we work towards actually availing money so that the swearing in can be financed so that the inaugural meeting cannot be underrated. It is as"
}