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{
    "id": 554654,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/554654/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 266,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "Mediation Report on the new version of the Division of Revenue Bill. And I do that for a number of reasons: One, it is a noble principle that once you agree to sit in mediation and send a team to mediation, it is only proper that when that report comes, you accept it. It would actually be wrong to sit in a mediation and reject the report of that mediation because that would mean you did not go to mediate but you went there to press your point. On that basis, I thank the whole House for the mood I am seeing that we accept that report. Two, every often we really have to look at the interest of the country. Knowing the legal situation that would otherwise prevail if we do not accept this report, the interest of the country and the interests of the counties must take consideration and therefore, it is important to accept this report. If we do not, we must remember that even the Appropriations Bill for the national Government and the county allocation of revenue report cannot go on according to the Constitution. So it is important that we accept this report. Further, it is important that the report has indicated exactly where the funds we want to add to the counties will be utilized. This is conditional Fund that will go to the Level 5 hospitals. I think there has been a big issue with Level 5 hospitals and other health institutions and if we do that, it is something we need to support. I do appreciate the fear of corruption in the counties that everybody is talking about but in my own view, I take the philosophy that if there is a chicken thief in the village, the village does not stop rearing chicken. What the village does is to catch the thief and continue rearing chicken. So, I do not think we can use that argument to say we cannot give money. Moreover, when an important issue is at stake and when the welfare of the State is at stake, I think philosophically the stronger person should take the upper moral position by conceding and therefore, Parliament has done the right thing. The real issue we have in this country in many of the matters that come before us regarding devolution, we as the country, particularly the National Assembly and the Senate, have taken an adversarial stance on every issue that comes. In my view, what we need to do is, considering that we devolved precipitately and did not follow administratively the structures we put in place through the transition to devolve the Government Act, from time to time, there will come a time that we will need to sit down and look at the issues and find the best way forward. In this situation, we had no option but to accept this because doing otherwise would have precipitated a major crisis for the country. The other issue is that it appears that the same Constitution did not give the Senate as much power as people in the Senate themselves anticipated. If you look at the issue of the division of revenue, the Constitution is very clear starting with Article 202 which says how the division is done and Article 203 which gives the criteria. Article 217 gives the Senate the powers to look at how the revenue for the county is divided after it has been divided. Article 224 gives how this money will be divided at the county but the role of the Senate in division of revenue is not as clear as people are saying. And when our courts, the Judiciary, were given the opportunity to make a decision, in my view, they acted like a council of elders and did not go by the technical provisions of the law and this has left us where we were before and unless something is done, every year we are likely to have this stalemate. 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."
}