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{
    "id": 385202,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/385202/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 215,
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    "content": "Houses which can then thrash out whatever differences they have. Allow me the opportunity to congratulate the 12 Members of Parliament from Kakamega County because they did not join the circus that was in the House yesterday. Madam Temporary Speaker, I support the Bill, but with amendments. I want to state that when I look at this Bill, it is starting to look to me like mischievously the national Government is attempting to lock money in the national Government, which would have been taken to the devolved government. I would like to refer Senators to the Printed Estimates which I believe some of you have looked at. If you look at the money that has been allocated to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Defence, you will be shocked. According to the Bill, this year we are going to spend on NIS and the Department of Defence, Kshs74.4 billion. But according to the actual Printed Estimates, we are going to spend on defence Kshs67.8 billion and on NIS Kshs14.2 billion. This is a total of Kshs82.1 billion. If you subtract Kshs82.1 billion from the allocation which has been put in this Bill of Kshs74.4 billion, it means that cleverly the national Treasury has left Kshs7.6 billion hanging without telling us what it would be used for. We are very suspicious, especially those of us who were in the last Parliament. You remember in 2009, Treasury approached us again with Printed Estimates like this only to turn out to have the so called “computer errors”. We would like to warn the national Treasury that we have plenty of time and we cannot get tired. We must have time to make sure that the right amount of money is taken to our counties. Again scrutinizing through this Bill, you will realize that the office of the Attorney-General whose work is just to advise the Government is being given a whopping Kshs3.1 billion. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who needs money is only being given Kshs1.2 billion. Unless the Government is setting up Keriako Tobiko for failure, it is important that the Office of the DPP be the one that should be given more funding than the office of the Attorney-General. In this Bill, a whopping Kshs149.9 billion is being given to constitutional commissions, but hon. Senators, I would like you to appreciate that it is possible for us to release some of these money to the devolved government because all these committees sit on a continuous basis. I want to propose that when the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Economic Affairs looks at these things, they must negotiate hard with Treasury and tell them that we can make a lot of savings from this money which is going to commissions by insisting that the following commissions sit on a need to sit basis. These are the Kenya Human Rights and Equality Commission; the National Land Commission---. In fact, the Judicial Service Commission is already leading. At the moment, they are not sitting continuously. The Parliamentary Service Commission and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission can sit once in a year. Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to congratulate the Government for the provision of Clause 6(3) where the Bill intends to hold to account any lazy and inefficient officer who causes wasteful expenditure. We do not expect anybody in the county government to approach court on a matter that could have been easily sorted out through arbitration. Therefore, if such a person is so found, I would be the first person in the case of Kakamega and Siaya my neighbour to support that, that person be surcharged. I also want to comment Treasury and the Commission on Revenue Allocation for reaching a gentleman’s agreement that they raise this from Kshs190 billion to Kshs210 billion. But The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}