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{
    "id": 480634,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/480634/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 132,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Sir. Having listened to the amendment by Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. and having interacted with the Chairman of the CRA in Mombasa last weekend, I have a problem supporting this amendment. My problem is constitutional. The responsibility of the county assembly is basically to ensure that they can run the budgeting process of the county. That budgetary process is guided, if you read the Public Finance Management Act, by the County Fiscal Strategy Plan. That is like the overall or the global picture that counties must have when they are preparing matters of the budget for the county both at the executive level and also at the legislative level. Mr. Chairman, Sir, the budget process, both at the national and at the county levels, is a negotiated process; it is about the various parties in that county – like the Executive and the Legislature – sitting down and agreeing on the bigger development plan for the county. Mr. Chairman, Sir, it also became very apparent in Mombasa that the ceilings that are being set are done in a meeting that involves only the executive – what is called AIPEC – which means the executive of the counties were represented in that meeting while the legislature is not represented. I find it very difficult to agree to an amendment that converts a constitutional function of Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) under Article 216, which is to amend a constitutional provision from “recommend” to “set.” Whereas a lot has been publicized about the imprudence of financial management and use by county assemblies, the same is also being done by the county executive. We cannot victimize one arm of the county government vis-à-vis another arm of the county government. If we want the CRA to be setting these processes so that the county assemblies become functional officials so that their work is just to rubber stamp, there is nothing we are going to do. Mr. Chairman, Sir, it is my proposal that this amendment – even if it is passed by a majority of this House – is unconstitutional. It goes against Article 216 of the Constitution and it goes against the spirit of the functioning of a county legislature. We may have a problem with the county assemblies at the moment; maybe we have a problem with the capacity of county assemblies, going by the kind of people who are being elected. If we are forcing county assemblies to accept their set standards, then let us force this Parliament, which is the National Assembly that has the national budget, to force this House to accept a ceiling that has already been set by the Executive at the national level. We have been rational as a House and I am saying this on behalf of the National Assembly to even reduce the budget of Parliament because we have a picture of the nation. The county assemblies, who have a picture of their counties, should also be rational and deny themselves unnecessary expenditures. So, Mr. Chairman, Sir, I am sorry; this amendment looks populist, but I think it is unconstitutional and I beg to oppose. 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."
}