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"content": "board that actually gives direction about specifically how the money that has come into a county as a result of royalties is used after consultation with various counties. People in a county want really to feel that their minerals have been exploited, if they can be paid royalties. They will say yes we have suffered from environmental pollution, but we are able to ensure that all our children can go to school. we can make sure that, for example, we have a fund where bright students can get scholarships to enable them pursue university studies. Our youth, for example, will go through technical education. Our mothers and children have sufficient health care. They have recourse to that because it is tied directly to the royalties that they receive. This is so that in exchange even for the royalty that they get, they know that, yes, we suffered negative consequences, but at the end of the day, we can actually see a direct link and a direct beneficiary component. Various proposals have been given at the level of sharing of royalties at the county level. For example, 80 per cent goes to the national Government, 15 per cent to the county government and 5 per cent to the community. Such a proposal still encompasses the 20 per cent royalty that we propose in this Motion. We propose 75 per cent for the national Government, 15 per cent for county governments and 10 per cent for community, respectfully. This is something that stakeholders have already been thinking about. It is only that the conceptualization that has been made so far has only been made along a particular natural resource. For example, according to the Mines and Minerals Bill of 2011 and the Geology Minerals and Mining Bill of 2012, they had these proposals after consultation with stakeholders. However, their focus is only on mining and minerals to the detriment of all the other natural resources which are very important. I think the key thing will be how to manage this. The provisions for management of such county revenue funds have already been given under Article 207(1), 2(a), 2(b), 3 and 4. So, there is a possibility that, that fund can be managed stringently so that it is actually apportioned to the agreed county focus and expenditure because the amount that goes to the community has also been agreed on. The community can be defined in different ways, either the immediate community that suffers most from this extraction. It can also mean the community in general. We can have a foundation, for example, that targets and ensures that a specific component is taken into consideration. Of course, the discussion over time and in the future could be about how to vary this proportion of royalties as the natural resource is being extracted and used. As that increases, these proportions do not need to be static and they can change over time. So, as much as there might be very little that we might do with the county allocations that have already been given and constitutionally adopted, we might be able to have innovative ways of making sure that counties are able to come out of the quagmire that some of them are in because of diminished financial resources. As I said earlier, there is lot of legislation in place, but there is a fragmented way in which natural resources have been handled in terms of processing. So, we have legislation, for example, the Petroleum Act; we have legislation on wildlife, we have legislation separately on forests. We have legislation separately on minerals. We have legislation separately on community land and how that community land can be optimally utilized. But in all these, what is missing is a county focus. I think this Motion, more than ever before, is so appropriate as we devolve to the counties and find ways of ensuring that counties 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."
}