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    "id": 605273,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/605273/?format=api",
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    "content": "to the Ministry of Health at the national headquarters when we know that the health function is devolved. I do not know whether this has been thought out clearly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, my second observation is with regard to the role of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). In the Constitution, CRA is mandated to make recommendations for equitable sharing of revenue between the national Government and the county governments, on the other hand, sharing of revenue among the 47 county governments. However, for the third year running, some of the CRA recommendations have been set aside and replaced by those of the national Treasury, giving rise to the need to provide lengthy explanations for the difference between CRA recommendations and those of the national Treasury. This Financial Year, the CRA came up with a proposal to provide some Kshs3.3 billion out of the Fuel Levy Fund to assist in the maintenance of county roads. Treasury had not even thought of it. Gladly, this proposal has been accepted. Unfortunately, several other recommendations from the CRA including proposed assistance for the village polytechnics which we know are in dire need of support, the Kshs3.3 billion recommended towards this was rejected. If you look at the proposal of Kshs3 billion from CRA for improvement of ECD infrastructure which is a burden which the county governments can hardly afford to take up, again this was not accepted. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, overall, you will notice that the CRA had recommended that counties be given Kshs282.4 billion which would have been equivalent to 36 per cent of the most recent audited accounts. While in this Bill, we are only dealing with an amount equivalent to 33 per cent. The point I am trying to make is that we should take CRA seriously. We constituted this body and appointed very competent people to work in it. They are an independent Commission and, therefore, they are best placed to make recommendations in respect to the Division of Revenue and so on. Division of revenue cannot be undertaken by the national Treasury because they cannot be expected to be neutral. This is an issue that I really urge this Senate to pursue more vigorously in future so that we can get a fair deal going to the counties. CRA has the capacity to undertake research because they have the professionals who are trained to do this kind of work. My third concern relates to the transfer of funds which we approve to go to the counties. A number of counties have complained that disbursement of money to the counties is delayed sometimes for very long periods of time causing the counties to default on their obligations. If this is true, this is clearly a case of violation of the law and breach of faith. It is also a breach of the commitment which has been entered between the national Government and the county governments on the basis of the disbursement schedule which we will be approving after this Bill goes through. I also want to say that although we would like to see more money go to the counties, we all agree that for the first time in the history of this country resources have been moved from the centre to the devolved units. Devolution has taken off in earnest and no one can stop it. County governments, however, should not depend on shareable The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}