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{
    "id": 477381,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/477381/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 313,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The budget is not about tables and numbers. A budget is an instrument for policy implementation. We have promised people very many things. In my county, we have just released the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) which runs to Kshs200 billion. We are here for another less than four years. How are we going to raise Kshs200 billion to implement our plan if we are only getting Kshs5 billion per year of which Kshs3 billion goes to recurrent expenditure and less than Kshs2 billion into development? We have promised water to our people to the tune of Kshs1 billion every financial year. We do not have that money. We are doing 300 kilometres of tarmac roads in Meru County. That money is not there. If you look at Article 6 of the Constitution, a county government is an independent government. It is a separate government from the national Government. They only relate on the basis of cooperation and consensus. This nonsense of putting ceilings from the CRA and the Controller of Budget to the county governments does not make sense because it undermines the capacity and operational autonomy of the county governments. We should be left to spend our money the way we think best. If out of the Kshs2 billion which is available to us for development, we want to spend the money purely on roads this financial year, in water the next financial year, why not? It would be a decision of the people. I want to thank the Mediation Committee for the negotiations they undertook in respect to the issue of the Level 5 Hospitals. We know it was not easy, but we appreciate. Even half a loaf is a loaf. But for the Kshs64 million that has been given to Meru Level 5 Hospital, there is going to be a crisis because the recurrent expenditure for that hospital is Kshs300 million every year. With this Kshs64 million, what are they going to do with it? We are going to have more transfers coming to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). I will advice them to buy ambulances for transferring patients to KNH because this money is not enough. There is no government which survives without deficit financing. Even the national Government had to go for the Euro Bond the other day. Unless we create mechanisms to enable the county governments to borrow against anticipated revenues, we will not move this country at the speed which we want to move development in our areas. We heard the CRA say there should be no borrowing by county governments for the next two years. Who appointed one Cheserem to be a chief governor, to be a governor of governors? We know he was the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), but he is not the governor of governors. We should be very careful about the illegal restrictions we are placing on the county governments. I agree with those who say that we need transparency and accountability for the national Government funds that we are transferring to the county governments. But we should also be careful not to tie their hands and their legs, paralyze them and make it impossible for them to realise development in this country. The CRA reports are merely advisory reports to the Senate. Time has come for us in the Senate to critically analyse these reports. Even if you look at the way the resources have been allocated through the formula, you find, Mandera County, for example, where 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."
}