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{
    "id": 565936,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/565936/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 235,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Assemblies (MCAs). If you calculate, you will realise that every month it costs this country Kshs1.2 million on average to sustain one MCA. I do not think this country can afford such kind of expenditure. We need to start asking ourselves seriously about the number of MCAs we have in this country. It is high time we reduced the number of MCAs. That is something that needs to be considered seriously. That should not give excuse to those who want to marginalise women who have been marginalised over the years. We can still get gender parity with a reduced number of MCAs. Something which also came out clearly, which the Committee Chair has talked about, is with regard to how these ceilings were arrived at. I would like to say that 34 counties complained about the allocations. They were given more money because they complained. Now, the question is: Will the other 13 counties which did not write letters to the Senate also be considered for additional allocation? Where will that money come from? The other question is: Why do you give a county like Turkana which has been marginalised over the years? The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), through a scientific method of determining how much should go to the county assemblies, had recommended a figure of about Kshs580 million. All over a sudden, the Senate recommends additional Kshs390 million, increasing that budget by over 60 per cent. This money will go to the County Assembly of Turkana to be spent purely on Recurrent Expenditure and yet this is a county that we are allocating more money to develop and catch up with other counties which have over the years been favoured in terms of development as opposed to Turkana. I know we have had a lot of issues with the Senate. We need to speak to our Senators. When it comes to the budget process, they really need to remove politics. I want to imagine that there was a basis for these increments. We were not given the basis but I want to imagine that it was there. The CRA was very clear and candid that they do not support these increments. The Controller of Budget (CoB) was also very clear that she was not supporting this increment. So, my plea to the Senate is that let us engage for the benefit of this country. To me, that is very important. I conclude my contribution by urging the national Government, especially the National Treasury that the issue of the Equalisation Fund is long overdue. The reason why we set up this Fund was to help those counties that have lagged behind in terms of development to catch up. The rules and regulations need to be fast tracked so that we dispose of this matter and have the money that we have been allocating to the marginalised counties go to those specific counties and develop those counties. They need water, electricity and roads. They need to catch up with other counties which over the years have been favoured in terms of development. With those many remarks, I second."
}