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{
"id": 628027,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/628027/?format=api",
"text_counter": 298,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "March 1, 2016 SENATE DEBATES 33 Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, could the office of the Clerk distribute those copies of the amendment? Thank you. “THAT, the official average rate of growth of revenue over the last four years of 13 per cent should be used at the minimum to compute the equitable share for the year 2016/2017” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, may I give a brief background. The House will recall that in the last financial year, you appointed Sen. Kagwe, Sen. Elachi and I to the Mediation Committee on the Division of Revenue Bill. We did very well. We raised candid issues. However, we were knocked out on the very strong position by the National Treasury and the National Assembly; that, whatever it was that we were advancing, had not been canvassed for in the Budget Policy Statement (BPS). So, I am provoked to make this amendment. In the event that the Division of Revenue Bill will end up in mediation and should it require that there is need for us to increase the allocation as proposed by the National Treasury, that amendment should find when we have already made this provision in the BPS. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, by this provision I mean – hon. Senators, I have gone through the Parliamentary Budget Office report on this BPS. I have a document which I have shared with a few Members. In this Report, the total revenue collection in the country has been growing. For the Financial Year 2011/2012, it was 12 per cent. It grew to 13 per cent in the Financial Year 2012/2013. It grew further to 15 per cent in the Financial Year 2013/2014 and to 14 per cent in the Financial Year 2014/2015. Therefore, for these four years that have been captured, the average growth in total revenue in the country is 13 per cent. Therefore, armed with that knowledge, we now go to the BPS. Those of you who have a copy of the document called BPS; it is stamped “secret.” It is a document from the journals office. On page 68, the National Treasury has put a table, 5.3, which shows equitable revenue share allocation to county governments. From it, they inform us that, whereas the money that went to the counties was Kshs259 billion for the last financial year, they are proposing that for this financial year, it should be Kshs280 billion. When you follow the legend of that table; what has informed the increment from Kshs.259 billion to Kshs280 billion is something they call adjustment. They say that they have adjusted from Kshs259 billion to Kshs280 billion by a factor of 7.9 per cent. I would like the House to remember that the same adjustment was done in the last Division of Revenue Bill. That time they used 10.4 per cent. Therefore, the amendment I am making introduces a scientific basis for that adjustment. Whereas, in the last financial year, the adjustment was 10.4 per cent, it was informed by the fact that the total revenue collection had increased. So, they needed to adjust it upwards. In this financial year, again, the revenue has increased, they are adjusting upwards but why are they using an arbitrary figure of 7.9 per cent? I am informing the House that the scientific way to do it would be to use the same factor by which the revenue collection is increasing. So, if the revenue is increasing by 13 per cent, then it follows that the adjustment factor should be 13 per cent. That is the purpose of the amendment. I request the whole House to see that if we do not put this The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}