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{
    "id": 568963,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/568963/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 234,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I want to thank the Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee for the generous titles that he has mentioned. Not that they are not real, but he has reminded the country that I hold those titles. I want to second this Motion to approve the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, 2015. First, Article 96 of the Constitution gives the Senate the mandate and power on horizontal sharing of national revenue that is allocated to counties. This is perfectly the work of the Senate. I want to add that the spirit of the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act is that this Bill needs to be disposed of. It should be passed by latest 30th April, every year. I want to urge and ask the Senate, the National Assembly and other relevant organs to get closely involved and engaged in the Budget-making process from its inception when the Budget Policy Statement is being negotiated so that we do not spend so much time on The Division of Revenue Bill, which is introduced at the same time with the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. This is on the assumption that the figures are already agreed on. The County Allocation of Revenue Bill takes time to approve because of the delay in approving The Division of Revenue Bill. Having said that, this is a straightforward Bill because we have already agreed on the figures through The Division of Revenue Bill. We have agreed on the figures that should go to the counties. We know that Kshs259.77 billion is the sharable national revenue that is allocated to the counties. This Bill also shares out the Kshs10.67 billion; money coming from the development partners in form of conditional grants. It is also sharing the Kshs16.598 billion that is coming from the Government national revenue in form of conditional grant. Basically, this Bill proposes to share the Kshs287 billion to the 47 counties. This is based on a formula that is already predetermined, was approved by Parliament and can only be reviewed by the Senate. There have been concerns. I remember when we passed the current formula for sharing revenue in the last Parliament and by then there was no Senate, Hon. Sambu was really unhappy about this formula and for good reasons. If you look at the population of Bungoma, Kakamega, Meru, Kiambu and many other counties and compare it with the population of the counties which get the lion’s share of the revenue that is allocated to the counties, you will see a systematic discrimination and marginalisation of populous counties. Something needs to be done. As we give capacity and help those counties that have been marginalised and those which are poor, we should also remember that very soon, we will marginalise those populous counties. By the way, taxes are paid by people. It is human beings who pay taxes. If you pay taxes and you are marginalised, I do not think that is equity. My Chair has spoken to certain issues that we identified in this Bill. More particularly and which I want to emphasize is the issue with regard to ceilings to the counties. In the 2014/2015 County Allocation of Revenue Bill, the Senate requested us to amend the Public Finance Management Act to allow it to be setting the ceilings for county assemblies. The reasoning then, and which we agreed to, was that county assemblies were misusing their powers and setting unrealistic amounts for county assemblies, thereby leaving little money for development. Today, what the Senate has proposed contradicts their initial thought. I say this because you cannot justify a budget increase from Kshs17 billion to Kshs27 billion in one financial year. That is an increment of about 60 per cent. At this rate, we will end up using the resources that are meant to develop counties in supporting the remuneration and perks of Members of County 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."
}