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{
    "id": 469114,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/469114/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 145,
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    "content": "establish universities in every county, but there is no allocation for that particular function at the county level. I think the amount which has been allocated is for the ECD and not for the universities. So, I think the county governments need to get involved in the development of their counties. How else are they going to generate revenue if the national Government is still hanging onto some of these functions? I looked at devolution in the Budget Estimates and they are allocating about Kshs68 million and one of their objectives is to try and eradicate poverty in the rural areas. I think that objective has already been taken care of by Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) in their parameters on poverty allocation. It means that we are having a duplication of roles and that means that the Government is costing functions twice and that is why you find that the national Government is hoarding more money than devolving the funds to the county governments. As a Committee, we are going to sit down and look at that critically and see how we can switch the figures. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thirdly, counties are being told that they cannot borrow in the first three years. How are they going to grow their income if they are not allowed to borrow the 85 per cent? They have to grow their income at 85 per cent of their revenue so that come next year, the national Government can be able to give them 15 per cent of the money that they have raised. If they are underfunded, I cannot foresee how some counties are going to make it. If you talk of a Trans Nzoia County where I come from, when you look at the costing that has been done for agriculture, which is a key sector, you will realize that very little money has been allocated. Most of the money is being held by the national Government. Why is it so, when agriculture is based at the county level? Also, in their costing, they have not factored in fertilizer which is a major input by the farmers. If the Government cannot come up and clearly tell the counties how they are going to source for fertilizer, then we are going to have a problem. For example, Trans Nzoia borders with Uganda and we are under the Free Trade Zone where goods can move without attracting any tax. So it means Uganda will continue selling their maize to us at a cheaper prize, thereby making our farmers desperate and they will sell their maize at a throwaway price, then you find cartels coming in to buy the maize from the farmers at a throwaway price. I think the national Government needs to look at that critically because if we cannot have sufficient food to sustain our citizens and our economy, then we have a big problem. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will also talk about the Equalisation Fund of Kshs3.4 billion which is appearing in the Division of Revenue Bill. The CRA had given us statistics of how they had arrived at this amount and how the counties are going to share the amount. They talked about those counties that are poor and disadvantaged. But when you look at other counties like in my area, we do not have roads. There are slums like Kipsongo where people have no access to clean water and where we do not even have roads. This Equalisation Fund should be applied across all the counties because in one way or the other, you will find one county is advantaged and the other one is disadvantaged. So, we should not just say that those counties which are in the figures that the CRA had submitted should be allocated this Kshs3.4 billion. Underfunding counties is going to lead to deficits in the budgets of the county governments. This afternoon we were given some figures which we have been told not to 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."
}