Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 476701,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/476701/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 422,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Article 187(2) that the Senate quoted says:- “If a function or power is transferred from a government at one level to a government at the other level- (a) arrangements shall be put in place to ensure that the resources necessary for the performance of the functions or exercise of the power are transferred.” Our argument against the Senate was that the way the Article was framed, if that was the basis, then the Senate implied that Level 5 hospitals were actually a function of the national Government which are being transferred to the county. However, our feeling was that in the last financial year, the Level 5 hospitals were treated as county functions. That is why they were given conditional grants. The law under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution is not very clear on what should go to the national Government and what should go to the county government with regard to health. This also applies to roads because it just talks about national trunk roads and it is not clearly defined. This is something that the Transition Authority (TA) should have helped to unbundle. However, that did not happen. The Constitution only talks about national referral health facilities. That should be a national Government function. It also talks about county health facilities and pharmacies to be the county functions. Therefore, there is a lacuna in this which we must accept. So, what did our Committee do? With regard to locating where the Level 5 hospitals should belong; whether national or county, we felt as the Mediation Committee that we could not come up with a conclusive answer. Therefore, we referred this matter through the Report to the two Committees of Health of both Houses; that is the National Assembly and the Senate. We would like the two Committees to comprehensively look at this matter and advise the two Houses on where Level 5 hospitals should belong. We went ahead on that particular issue to discuss with the Senate, now that the initial Division of Revenue Bill had allocated over Kshs3.7 billion, ring-fenced and put as conditional grant for Level 5 hospitals. That was again changed through an amendment which you remember, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, was actually initiated by the Leader of Majority Party. He initiated that citing that there were some consultations. That amendment was passed and now, the Kshs226 billion includes that conditional grant. However, it became difficult when we were negotiating on how you would remove that money from the Kshs226 billion. This is because when it is called sharable revenue, there The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}