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{
    "id": 536768,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/536768/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 86,
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    "content": "to county governments so that we get improvement in service delivery, maintenance of our institutions and also get adequate money for development. In the reports by the Controller of Budget last year up to now, we have seen that some counties have had very little money left for development because of the overheads, cost of maintenance, salaries and so forth. For example, whatever we gave to counties like Nairobi County is exactly equal to its 103 per cent of its remuneration. Their total personnel emoluments is actually equal to what we allocate, for instance. It is important that we give adequate money so that these institutions can run. Secondly, there is local revenue that is generated by county governments. There has been concern in all reports by the Controller of Budget that county governments have been very inefficient in collecting revenue. In many of the big counties, we have not seen any significant growth. In fact, in some counties, we have seen a decline in collection of revenue. Concerns have been expressed in the many reports that have been issued by the Controller of Budget, the Auditor-General or other institutions that there is a serious problem of accountability for funds, particularly of local revenue that is collected. We want to put county governments on notice because the law is very clear. All the money collected must be kept into the county revenue fund so that it can be accounted for and appropriated in accordance with the law and the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to make it very clear to county governments that there is a tendency of corruption within county governments. We saw the report recently. In the President’s Speech, up to 13 county governors were cited to be corrupt. There were allegations of corruption in 13 counties. However, more importantly, more than 30 counties were mentioned in the Report. So, it is a matter of concern that barely two years into devolution - we will be celebrating two years of devolution next month when the Annual Devolution Conference will be held in Kisumu - there are concerns that billions of shillings are probably being lost through corruption. This is a matter that, as Senate, we need to be concerned about. This is a matter that should encourage us to come up with appropriate laws and regulations to tighten the control of money in county governments. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, without taking any more time, I urge Members to support the Bill and the proposed amendments. I thank the Office of the Speaker, the Clerk, all Members who have assisted us and some Members of my Committee who worked tirelessly over the last one week to get this Report. We have particularly been very hard on institutions like the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) where we demanded that they carry out their functions as required by the Constitution; that they be independent and give advice so that the Senate gets their recommendations and determines what to do. That is what I had. I do not want to take any more time and I beg to move and ask the Senator for Kakamega County; Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, to second the Bill."
}