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{
    "id": 468099,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/468099/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Nobwola",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13116,
        "legal_name": "Catherine Mukiite Nabwala",
        "slug": "catherine-mukiite-nabwala"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this very important Bill which touches on the allocation of revenue to our counties. The Bill before us states the amount that the National Treasury has allocated to counties as Kshs198 billion. When we look at the Bill and compare this amount to what the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) had approved, there is a very big variance. The CRA had approved Kshs231.1 billion for the year 2013/2014. This is a constitutional body that is mandated to determine and approve revenue for counties and they have the parameters. The National Treasury does not have the parameters. So, the figure of Kshs198.7 billion approved by the National Treasury does not have a basis because we do not know how the figure was arrived at. When we go into the details regarding the figures they have approved, the sharable income of Kshs154 billion to the counties is not sufficient. The CRA has approved Kshs251 billion, why would the National Treasury under-cut the counties? This is setting counties to fail. We have also been told elsewhere that counties are saying that they are not ready to take on the functions. It is our duty as Senators as we sit here, because each and every Senator here represents a county, so we should ensure that this money, however little it is, is devolved to the counties. We are already being told that some counties are not ready to take on the functions because they do not have capacity. This is something that the Transitional Authority (TA) should have put in place way back. So, we do not know why it is coming up this last minute. This makes us question whether there is political will to devolve functions to the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, when you also look at the Bill before us, Clause 6 says that the functions gazetted by the TA for transfer to the county governments in accordance with Section 23 of the Transition to Devolved Government Act shall form the basis for preparing the relevant county governments estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2013/2014. We, as Senators, have never seen the functions that were gazetted. We have not been given that as an appendix. That is what I expected whoever dished out this document to do, so that as we discuss and allocate these funds, we know what we are doing. Some of us have not seen the budgets for the various counties. How do you determine allocation when you do not know what you are allocating? Madam Temporary Speaker, the National Treasury has also omitted the word “harmless” in this Bill. We saw earlier that when we allocate the Kshs198 billion, some 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."
}