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{
    "id": 477396,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/477396/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 328,
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    "content": "cameras when I know I cannot change the figures. If you cannot change certain figures then you become a debater. It is like a debate in a secondary school where you debate whether it is the Warsaw Pact or the NATO Alliance which is stronger than the other; you cannot change anything, so you just talk. Some of us do not like “just talking”. We came here to make a difference. That difference will only be made when we do something about ourselves. We have a way to do something about ourselves which we are going to sell very vigorously to our brothers. There is no other way other than a referendum. We have said to ourselves that the national government and the county governments are distinct and interdependent. However, the national Government is behaving a patron of the county governments. What they are doing is to give them what they want. If they want, they can take it. They even tell you that you cannot borrow, at least for three years when I know that this national Government cannot build roads unless it borrows. It cannot even pay the bills for the roads that are under construction unless it borrows and yet the county governments must pave their roads which are numerous in kilometres, with the little money that they get after they have paid their normal expenses, which leaves them with less than one third of that money. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, how are they supposed to operate? Some of these counties have very ingenious Governors and they have gone out and partnered with Malaysia, America and Germany. These countries are telling them that they can give them money which they can use to do the roads and they can pay it slowly looking at their income. Because their income is kind of guaranteed, they have no problem. I am not so sure that the “Lowe House” will accept those proposals for loans when they come because I think there is serious competition between the Members of Parliament and the Governors. We made the Members of National Assembly a bit executive. Each one of them runs a budget of about Kshs100 million which they are very much protective of. I understand why. But now they think that the resources have been devolved and, therefore, there is no need of having a Governor or a county government. In fact, if they had the power to change this Constitution, I am sure if they could, they would strike off the chapter that deals with devolution. We should, first of all, amend the Constitution to suggest that we will work with the figures of the revenue of the previous year. The Government knows the revenue that it collects and it publishes it every year. So, we will say that we will work with the revenue of the previous year which has been published by the Treasury instead of saying, audited accounts. This is because the audited accounts must come to Parliament and Parliament must pass them. We are at the mercy of a body that is not very sensitive to the county governments. So, we are between a rock and a hard place. We must do something drastic about it. We must also increase the allocation to 40 per cent. We must engage the CRA much more vigorously and allow the county governments to borrow money from whichever source so long as it is used for the purpose for which it is borrowed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let me say that I am unhappy because this will not take us anywhere. The New Nyanza General Hospital is now called the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Hospital. It is, probably, going to close down. It was in the worst state even with that Kshs3.7 billion last year and it will be in worse state with the Kshs1.8 billion shared. 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."
}