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{
    "id": 469044,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/469044/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 75,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The national revenue being shared out is what is generated across the country. The national revenue is generated out of taxes like the Value Added Taxes (VAT), duties paid, income taxes and all other taxes paid by Kenyans across the country. As you take a bottle of water in this House, you will realise that some VAT has been paid on it. That is part of the national revenue that this Bill seeks to divide. Therefore, the Bill is very important because it seeks to divide that national revenue between the national and county governments. After this Bill is agreed upon and passed, it will also form the basis of what will go out now to the counties and what will be given out to the counties under the subsequent Bill; the County Allocation of Revenue (CAR) Bill. The Bill talks about three objects. One is the equitable division of revenue raised nationally. In other words, there is a shareable amount of revenue that will be shared out in accordance to Article 203 of the Constitution. The second part is about drawing of unconditional grants which the Constitution provides for. From the share of revenue of the national governments, there will be grants that the national government will give to the counties, conditionally and unconditionally. The third aspect of the Bill is about financing of the continuing services that some counties have been providing in the past. Those services must continue to be provided. In other words, the fact that services have been devolved to the county governments does not mean that those services should cease to be financed and it is up to the county governments. What the national government should do, which this Bill seeks to provide, is for funding to ensure that all the services that residents of counties are enjoying now continue to be enjoyed in the future. The basis for determining this revenue is provided for in the memorandum to the Bill. The memorandum to the Bill provides for a number of things which are very important for Senators to note. How is the county governments’ equitable share arrived at? The memorandum gives the reasons. I will very briefly highlight that. First, this is done by determining the costs of the outgoing functions which have been assigned to the county governments. We know that in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, a number of functions have been assigned to the county governments effective July this year. Those functions have been costed out by the Treasury. That is one of the factors that have been used in determining the revenue that the Senate Majority Leader referred to. The second item that they looked at is the cost of county governments’ administration. This includes the cost of running the county administration; in other words, the personnel costs; the County Executive, the County Assembly Members and all the people who will be hired by those institutions. Thirdly, it also looks at the cost of managing the County Public Finance. You will appreciate that the Transition Authority posted county treasurers and chief finance officers to the counties to look at the finances on interim basis. Those costs have also been included. The County Public Service Board finances have also been included. Lastly, as part of the conditional grants they have also provided for projects and programmes that have been financed by loans and grants as well as what is referred to as regional referral hospital. There is a matter that I need to talk about which is very important in determining this cost. The Transition Authority (TA) is required to carry out a very important exercise 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."
}