Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 480630,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/480630/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 128,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The question was; how are the county assemblies and the county executives supposed to share the money? County assemblies had come to a point where they were demanding from the county executive a certain amount. Some were asking for Kshs1 billion and ultimately, that is the money that is being misused in the county assemblies. So, the CRA and other institutions have sought out to find a basis for allocating money to the county assemblies for their recurrent expenditure but not development. The development expenditure is separate. So, when the ceilings were set and the county governments were advised, some county assemblies complied. However, some did not. Some have, in fact, gone to court. We had this discussion in our Committee of Finance, Commerce and Budget and thought the idea was very important. We plan to bring an amendment to the PFM Act. I think this amendment is in order. Within the Kshs30 billion which is available for recurrent expenditure relating to salaries and so forth, the amount that will go to the assemblies and what will go to the executive will be determined based on the cost of running an assembly and the cost of allowances including travel. They have also looked at other O&M expenses and the performance for the last one year. The Auditor-General has the performance for the past one year. So, they went into a detailed costing of how much it would cost county assemblies to run their operations. This is the ceiling that was set. This is money that will be more than adequate for them to carry out their operations. I fully support this. This will give the ceiling that has been recommended by the CRA some weight in law so that all counties can comply. However, as we speak, many county assemblies have refused to approve their budgets because of the simple reason that they want to be given the money that they proposed. They are saying that if they do not get it, then they will not approve the budgets. Some of them have demanded that they re-write the budgets. This House has a mandate to determine how resources will be spent in the counties. This is one of the fundamental roles that we have. I want to implore all of us here to adopt this. Without the ceiling, we will be lamenting like everyone else in the streets tomorrow saying that these people are just spending money. A few minutes ago, we were discussing about the hospitals and the challenges we are having concerning money. This is the same money that the county governments have been given. We want to limit the wastage and inefficiencies. I fully support and encourage the others to support."
}