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{
    "id": 531566,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/531566/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 68,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "conditional grants. To me, these conditional grants are what we really need to note, as a House. This is the money which has been allowed by the national Government to be spent at the county level. In total, the national Government has given Kshs25.7 billion to the county governments as conditional grants. Part of this money is expected to be spent on health sector, which takes a large share of this money. Free maternity services take Kshs4.2 billion and leasing of medical equipment takes Kshs4.5 billion. There is some money under loans and grants totalling Kshs1.4 billion, which will be provided by the World Bank. All this money will be used on the health sector to ensure that Kenyans have access to healthcare services. I must draw the attention of this House to the issue of leasing medical equipment. In our last Division of Revenue Bill, we also indicated that there was need for the national Government to come up with a very clear policy and an implementation mechanism so that we do not see some of the things we are reading in the newspapers. There is conflict where governors are saying that they have not agreed with the issue of leasing of medical equipment while the national Government says that it is Government policy to do so. I propose that even as we move forward, if this is a Government policy as it has been said in some of the write-ups, then the national Government needs to come out very clearly on this policy and make sure that we have a very clear implementation mechanism so that we reduce the disagreement. At page 173, the issue which is very important to me is that of the fiscal capacity and efficiency of the county governments. This Bill appreciates the fact that some of our county governments do not have the capacity to carry out proper fiscal management of their budgets. This is a worrying trend. It is important that the National Treasury sets aside resources for building the capacity of county governments so that the money we send there can be spent well. It is through spending the funds disbursed to counties that the wellbeing of Kenyans will be improved. In addition to that, this Bill appreciates the fact that the county governments are the drivers of development in this country. A lot of resources have been directed there. There is an appeal for the county governments to spend most of their resources on development. As the Budget and Appropriations Committee, what are we saying? We are saying that it is important that the managers at the county level set aside resources for development. We are going to grow our cake when we use our resources for development, and not on recurrent expenditure. A report by the World Bank released recently indicated that most of our counties are using more than 70 per cent of their resources on recurrent expenditure. This is a very worrying trend. As much as we continue wasting our resources on recurrent expenditure, we should not expect this country to grow. If the country does not grow, we will remain at the same level. Once this Bill becomes an Act of Parliament, the county governments should ensure that the resources that we are going to release to them are channelled to development activities. This Bill also appreciates the second generation formula formulated by the Commission for Revenue Allocation, which is supposed to give money to the counties. As Members of Parliament, we need to note that the formula we are using currently will come to an end this year. It is important that this House takes time and approves the second level formula so that next year, we have a formula. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}