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"id": 429109,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/429109/?format=api",
"text_counter": 328,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Pukose",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1458,
"legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
"slug": "robert-pukose"
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"content": "We made an allocation; conditional grant, to Level 5 hospitals. Those are formally provincial general hospitals. They include Kisii, Machakos and all the other former provincial hospitals. If we give the money not as a conditional grant to Level 5 hospitals, then what it means is that the money will be distributed equally among all the counties. What happens to the county that is hosting the Level 5 hospital? Are the other counties which are being served from that county willing to give their share to that Level 5 hospital to provide services? This is where the big challenge is. That is because initially, when we gave funds as conditional grants, the county allocation of revenue will allocate say, Nakuru Provincial General Hospital, Kisii Level 5 Hospital, Machakos Level 5 Hospital and Coast General Hospital this much. However, the way we have done it now means that each of the counties will get an equal share. If I do not want to support Level 5 hospitals, it means that I will use that money within my county and let the Governor of Nakuru County who hosts the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital to allocate the money to that hospital. That means that there will be cut-off of funds to the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital unless all the counties within the region that fall under Rift Valley Province are willing to give something to that hospital. The other issue is on utilization of cost-sharing money. Where is that money going? Is it being used properly? That is money being generated in each of the counties. We have done the division of that money and each county is also collecting cess money. How much is being collected in each of the counties and how is this money being utilized? Where is it banked? Is it being used properly? Hon. Speaker, we have talked about the Equalisation Fund and we have disbursed some money. But to me, when I look at the Equalisation Fund, as much as it is serving areas that we want developed--- In Nairobi, if you go to Kawangware or Korogocho, those two places are marginalized and they need to come up to the same level as Runda. So, how much are we giving to Korogocho, for example and yet, in the Equalisation Fund, such factors are not captured? If you look at my constituency, Endebess, roads are equally as bad as they are in Wajir or Mandera. They are impassable because of marginalization over a period of time and yet, we are not getting anything from the Equalisation Fund. Therefore, this is something that we need to seriously look into and see whether we can also classify some areas that are marginalized in order for them to benefit from that Fund. We have given a good amount of money to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and yet, when you look at the employment of teachers, it is not evenly distributed in this country. I have schools within my constituency that have only two teachers. Schools like Ashapel and Nawiyabong primary have only two teachers and yet, children from those schools are expected to compete at the same level with schools that are having enough teachers. Therefore, as we give that money to TSC to employ teachers, it must look at areas that are marginalized. That way, we will have an equal number of teachers and opportunities for all our children throughout the country. Hon. Speaker, after the last Division of Revenue Bill, governors went into high gear about raising the money to 50 per cent and things like that. We spent a lot of time, as a country, debating on how much we need to give to those areas, instead of debating on The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}