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{
    "id": 437094,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/437094/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 328,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Nabwala",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13116,
        "legal_name": "Catherine Mukiite Nabwala",
        "slug": "catherine-mukiite-nabwala"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I rise to add my voice in support of the Division of Revenue Bill which is before this House for 2014/2015. The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) is the body that is mandated to calculate and come up with the allocation of the revenue between the national and county governments. They have the expertise and even we in the Senate should rely on them because they have the formulae and the parameters which they use to work out the allocations. The CRA had proposed a figure of Kshs279 billion which has now deviated to Kshs226.6 billion. However, what I would like to add here is that the Kshs226 billion was debated at the Committee for Finance, Commerce and Budget. What the Committee had initially agreed was to go by what CRA has proposed, that is, the Kshs279 billion. When we consulted with the Council of Governors (CoG), Treasury and CRA, we agreed that the Kshs238 billion which had been agreed upon by IBEC was already in dispute. That meant that another negotiation had to be done and that is why our Chairman had to meet with the National Assembly, the Executive, Treasury and Council of Governors to now debate or deliberate on that figure of Kshs238 billion. What was agreed upon after the deliberations was the Kshs226 billion which I stand to support provided that the amendments that we have agreed, that is to up the figure for referral hospitals to Kshs10 billion are taken. So, Kshs10 billion plus the Kshs226 billion will come to about Kshs238 billion which we had initially supported. This is the figure that the Council of Governors had proposed but later on, they retracted. So, we were left in abeyance and that is why this Bill is on this Floor. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you look at the contentious page, that is, page 4 there is Kshs226.6 billion county allocations with a percentage of 43 per cent. The Committee for Finance, Commerce and Budget had already looked at this percentage and realized that it was wrong. They were basing it on the figures for 2009/2010. However we said that we shall move the amendments once the Bill is before the House, which I think our Chair has retreated to go and start working on it. Otherwise, I think the Kshs226.6 billion is within the 15 per cent threshold mandated by the Constitution. This Bill is very important because we know that counties need a lot of money. Last year when we allocated them Kshs190 billion plus the Kshs20 billion conditional allocation it was not enough. We are aware that counties have been struggling because we have unbundled very many functions to them. What we now need to do, even for the future, we have to burn the midnight oil to come up with a solution to the Bill. In future we should have enough time to discuss the Division of Revenue Bill together with the 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."
}