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    "id": 505346,
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    "content": "requirement, then you have reduced the capacity for that particular area to generate the required revenue. I do not think reducing the population threshold will assist in any way. You might have many urban centres or cities which are not operational because they did not meet the other thresholds. If the rationale was that you have more urban areas so that they can levy more taxes, then that is negative because we are coming up with ways of taxing Kenyans who are already overtaxed. That is not the direction to go. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, coming to the County Governments Act, of course, it has been said that the issue of 15 to 10 wards has been overtaken by events because the first election has been held. I do not know the rationale of somebody trying to change this when after the new Constitution there is only one first election and it has already passed. I do not know why we are amending things backwards. The other part which has been addressed by many Members is the issue of the consultative forum. If you check the Act which is being amended, it states:- “There is established for every county a forum to be known as county intergovernmental forum.” This was supposed to be just coordination between what the county government is doing and what the departments which have not been devolved are doing at the county level. Initially, what was there was just heads of departments of the national Government rendering services at the county level, then the executive committee members of the county assembly so that they can synchronize their activities. From this, a particular source of national Government funding has not been taken into account and I do not know why. Maybe the reason could be because it comes from the National Assembly. We have the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) which is going to the county and that is one fund which has not been brought into these kinds of committees or forums at the county level. That way, you have a Government fund which is not synchronized with other Government funds. We only have the heads of departments and the county executive committee members. You have left out the CDF. There must be some way of roping in CDF because it is also doing the same things that these departments are doing. At least somebody from CDF should be attending or be part of this; maybe the secretary to the committee or the officer appointed by the Board. At least somebody from the CDF should be roped in so that whatever CDF is doing can also be known by the other actors like the county government and the national government departments. That way, we will avoid duplication. Taking into account this new consultative forum, I do not see the rationale of removing the intergovernmental name. That could have been a better name than calling it consultative. This is because you are trying to put the levels of government together so that they know what each one is doing so that they can coordinate their activities. When you remove it, maybe with a view to trying to widen it, then you say you are going to include professional bodies. We do not have professional bodies at the county level. Rarely do you have these bodies at the county level, maybe non-governmental organizations that will make sense because they are at that level. Looking at it from another angle, it has been raised by other Members that this could be a way of doing away with the County Development Board (CDB). I do not see how this consultative or intergovernmental forum can replace the CDB because these are 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."
}