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    "id": 437130,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/437130/?format=api",
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    "content": "yesterday may drive people in the Executive to wish to preserve those powers. But the Constitution has taken it away from them. Last year in the Committee of the Senate on Devolved Government, we met with the Cabinet Secretary in charge of devolution. We asked her to present to the Senate the Government policy paper on implementing this particular article in the Sixth Schedule. Up to this very day, the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Devolution has not presented to this Senate, whose responsibility it is to look after the affairs of the counties, a policy paper implementing this particular Article in the Sixth Schedule. So, it is our responsibility, as the Senate, to point out to the nation that respecting the Constitution, particularly with respect to devolution, must be observed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, today we are talking about the Division of Revenue Bill. I want to make a general statement. If you look the world over, the countries that have done very well in terms of development are those with devolved governments. Even China, which people assume is a highly centralized system is only centralized politically. At the level of economic development, the provinces have a lot of autonomy. Indeed, they compete. What happens during the National People’s Congress is that every head of province reports to the Communist Party of China what progress he or she is making in a particular province, so that the Government can maintain the policy of the Communist Party of China in every province. The central government does not involve itself in provincial affairs in terms of development of these provinces. That is why, since the reforms, China has done very well in terms of development; the provinces initiate a lot of development projects. They even have parastatals to do that. In that regard, the provision on the Equitable Share and other financial laws in Article 203 of this Constitution are very important. Equitable sharing of national revenue under Article 202 to Article 203 is extremely important. When we are looking at the Division of Revenue Bill, this is a particular section of the Constitution that we should refer to. They establish principles on how revenues should be allocated to the county and the national level. They provide very detailed criteria in Article 203 on what should be observed. If you look at those articles - I want to read them quickly, so that we can evaluate this Division of Revenue Bill sensibly; it says: “(1) The following criteria shall be taken into account in determining the equitable shares provided for under Article 202 and in all national legislation concerning county governments enacted in terms of this Chapter- (a) the national interest; (b) any provision that must be in respect of the public debt and other national obligations; (c) the needs of the national government, determined by objective criteria; (d) the need to ensure that county governments are able to perform the functions allocated to them;” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have allocated functions to county governments. If, indeed, we allocate resources to county governments without ensuring that these functions are performed then, of course, we are committing a constitutional transgression. 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."
}