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"content": "amendment that I think most of the counties are making which they are required to make by the Controller of Budget before the end of this month. This is because their budgets were prepared in a manner that did not comply with the PFM Act and other regulations of finance. So, that is the way it goes on and on. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what is important to note are the notes which are down there. The cash disbursement schedule is based on the revenue performance trends of the national Government. You will see, for example, in the month of October, it is Kshs19 billion which is being transferred yet last month, it was Kshs16 billion which was transferred, and so forth. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second point to note again is that the schedule has factored in months when the revenue performance is good to compensate for months when the revenue performance was poor. I think we all know that the national revenue depends on the revenues that are collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Therefore, you will find that during the months when revenues are good, for example, January, it will be 19 billion all the way to February and so forth. The third point, again, which is important to note on the schedule, is that some of the payments for the county governments, like salaries for the devolved functions is estimated at Kshs4.5 billion per month for the months of July, August and September. This will actually be paid by the national Government in an arrangement that was agreed upon by the two levels of governments at the summit. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, generally what is important to note is that the Schedule requires that the national Treasury disburses these funds as the Act says at the beginning of every month, but not later than the 15th of that month for monies to get into the following month. In other words, the money that is being disbursed now is not actually for this month. It is for next month so that they can actually plan, so that they do not get into a situation of debts and so forth. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is the first time that the Senate is approving this schedule which is for disbursement of funds to the counties. Therefore, it is a very important responsibility of this House. It is one of the clear mandates in the PFM Act that the Senate has to look at this schedule to see whether it complies with the Act and to ensure it makes it easy for the cash to flow to the county governments. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it has been agreed in discussions that we have had recently with the national Treasury and even with the county executives. All of them were here with the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committees of the county governments. It has been agreed that the monthly disbursement would be preferred to a quarterly system that the national Government uses to disburse money from the Exchequer. That would make it easier to avoid delays. This is because in a quarterly system, the kind of money delays that arise mean that sometimes you will not be able to plan your projects on a month to month basis, and you end up facing delays and, therefore, additional costs. In that regard, I think the county governments have said it is generally an agreeable way. 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."
}