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{
    "id": 474062,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/474062/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 277,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatangi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 646,
        "legal_name": "Paul Kimani Wamatangi",
        "slug": "paul-kimani-wamatangi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to support this Motion. In supporting the Motion, I wish to state that in view of the contributions that have been made by my colleagues, at this time, we should rethink whether it is 40 or 60 per cent which is adequate and whether there are constitutional issues about this Bill. The fact remains that today we have just voted for the Division of Revenue Bill and hot in pursuit is the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. Last year, we voted for the allocations to the counties and all the billions that we voted to go to the counties went into a basket that had no control. The basket that we sent those billions into was completely devoid of any rules of how to spend the money other than the very few structural rules which indicated how much would go to the county assembly and the executive arm of the county government. All the complaints that we are having about the mismanagement of resources is actually a direct result of that oversight. As the Senate, the Constitution mandates us to oversight counties and we cannot shy away from that responsibility. The long and short of this is that eventually we must come up with rules and regulations within the law that are going to guide the allocations that we are going to give to the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, if fiscal responsibility failed at the county level, there is no way devolution would be claimed to be a success. It would never succeed. In simple analysis, if the common mwananchi at the grassroots does not feel the effect of the resources that have gone to the county; if they do not see responsibility on the part of Governors on how their resources are being spent, for example, roads being done, change in the education sector, medicine being availed in the local dispensaries and change of attitude that we have witnessed in the spending of the resources of the county, then it does not matter how important we rate devolution. It does not matter the kind of plans we come up with; devolution will be deemed to have failed. I wish to remind ourselves and the country that the issue of resources that go to the counties is a matter that this Senate has gone to court for. I wish to congratulate the Mediation Committee that sat to mediate between the Senate and the National Assembly on this Bill. Last year, we were forced to go to court to ensure that the counties got the allocations. If we are taking this trouble as the Senate to ensure that those resources have been taken to the counties, if we then do not also equally up our game and ensure that we follow it up with another law to show how it should be done, then we will have failed. For actual progress to be seen at the county, the leveraging of resources must be done responsibly by Governors. It should not only be by Governors, but also by the county assemblies. I remember two weeks ago, I was attending one of the meetings of the Senate and it was reported to us that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has received 14 letters from 14 different countries that have said that they are no-longer willing to host 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."
}