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"content": "generate enough revenue, a part of which will go to the national Government for reallocation in future. So, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I need to be convinced that the disbursement schedule, as much as we are going to support it, is going to cater for the physical development that we need to have in the country. We need to know whether each county will spend the amount of money given on development projects or whether most of that money will be go towards recurrent expenditure for payment of salaries, because that is what, indeed, will happen. I was with my Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) on Tuesday and I was able to address them. The greatest problem that they had was that as much as the budget of the county was released and it was already there to be tabled, it was not possible to account for the development projects that have already been initiated in the county. All the amount of money counties collect, together with more than half of what they receive will go to the devolved labour force in the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and also the labour that they have inherited from the disbanded municipalities and municipal councils that are already within the county governments. So, much of this would have been discussed by the Committee so that we get to know which county is capable of using the amount of money which is devolved, and which are the other counties which cannot manage. Although this is a good procedure because if it is true that some counties are not able to use this amount, then in future, that amount should not be released to those counties. So, this is a checking system which can be used as a deterrent against those counties which cannot afford to generate enough revenue. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is also important to note that not all counties are the same; some counties are very good in terms of production; some of them are marginalized and some have already discovered minerals that were not there before. You will be surprised to know that even the ones which were at one time marginalized – I do not know what kind of a miracle has come about – have discovered enormous resources of minerals. Of course, once these minerals are sold, they will generate a lot of revenue, earn foreign exchange and this will now lead to the national kitty increasing, hence the amount in the allocation increasing. So, we need to encourage those counties which are potentially rich and counties that can produce enough revenue so that they are given more money to continue generating more. Of course, the more they generate, the more even the other marginalized counties will receive, not even in the same month, but also in future. With this, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I take note of my county, which is a great producer of rice, tea and also coffee, not to mention even horticulture. Once those crops are marketed properly, a lot of revenue will be generated, and this is the reason I am saying that we need to encourage farmers to continue generating more produce. That is the reason why they should be given more money so that the more they generate; the more, of course, they contribute to the national revenue collection kitty which will be allocated to other counties which are not able to produce the same. The same, of course, 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."
}