Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 347022,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/347022/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Munya",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for East African Community",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 279,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Konzolo Munyao",
        "slug": "joseph-munyao"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few things about this Bill. Let me also start by thanking the Minister for bringing the Bill and all the other Bills that are required for operationalisation of the county governments. We are now happy. We now know that the county governments will be operational because you can have them on paper but if there are no resources allocated to them, they cannot operate. Therefore, the Minister needs to be thanked for working very hard and making sure that the Bills are here. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to correct two key misconceptions about devolution. One of them is the idea that counties are supposed to receive 15 per cent of the national revenue. It is important to make it very clear that 15 per cent is the minimum that they are supposed to receive. You cannot go below 15 per cent. So, if you go above 15 per cent, you are not giving the counties any favours. It is the Constitution which says that below 15 per cent is unacceptable. So, the allocation to counties must be 15 per cent and above of the national revenue. So, when we hear people insisting that they have given counties more than 15 per cent, it reminds us of that old thinking; that whatever you are giving to the counties is a favour. Indeed, you are not even giving. Nobody is giving anybody anything. The Constitution apportions resources between the national Government and the county governments. It is the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) which is empowered by the Constitution to divide national revenue between the national Government and the county governments. It is not the Treasury. Therefore, the Treasury’s attitude needs to change. The assumption by Treasury that they are the ones who keep the Government’s money and that they are the ones to give or not to give must start changing because the Constitution is very straightforward. It is written in black and white that it is the CRA which is supposed to look at the national revenue and see what goes to the counties and what remains with the national Government. So, nobody is allocating anybody anything. Nobody is doing anybody a favour. That is the first thing I wanted to say. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the second thing I want to say is that when you arrive at the exact amounts of what goes to the counties and what remains with the national Government, you look at the functions that the county governments are supposed to carry out and the functions that the national Government is supposed to carry out. You then allocate the money on the basis of functions. There should be functional analysis."
}