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{
    "id": 639375,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/639375/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 245,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Kanyua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 981,
        "legal_name": "Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua",
        "slug": "priscilla-nyokabi-kanyua"
    },
    "content": "you compare our country to other countries which have devolution, you will find that we are not even doing as much of conditional allocations as we should. Going forward, it will be important for the National Assembly to allocate conditional allocations for critical services like healthcare and education, especially polytechnics, early childhood development centres and nursery schools. Conditional allocations should also be allocated to water. Instead of giving the Kshs302 billion as a wholesome allocation, it will be important that much of the Kshs280 billion, which has not been given as conditional allocations, is given as conditional allocations by this House. We have seen a free hand in the implementation of these monies. That free hand has not been beneficial to the public. Going forward, it will be imperative for this House, in allocating money to county governments, to allocate specific allocations for water, health, education, early childhood education and youth activities. Youth empowerment in counties is still a lot more lip service than allocation of money. It will be good to put monies that should go to polytechnics and sports in the conditional allocations that go to counties. It is time we put in legislation the procurement principle of 30 per cent that the tenders should go to the youth in the counties. It has been left to the county governments and we have not seen much progress. I want to speak about my county of Nyeri. We have not seen tenders and government contracts going to companies owned by young people to the level of funding that the county has. It will be important for our governors to allow young people in our counties to work in those county projects and create employment with monies coming through the Division of Revenue Bill. We support the seven conditional allocations such as the free maternal health, the leasing of medical equipment and the compensation for user fees, especially the Level 5 hospitals, noting that my county of Nyeri has a Level 5 Hospital which was the former Provincial General Hospital. Time has come for us to put in law that the conditional allocation money goes directly to the implementing agency. I have not seen any reason why funds meant for a Level 5 hospital goes to the governor’s county account. I have seen absolutely no reason. It is not in law, it is not desirable and it is not in practise. So, the Nyeri Level 5 Hospital is now in very poor state and shape while the funds that were supposed to go to it are held in an account in the governor’s office. The monies that are meant for Level 5 hospitals should go directly to the hospitals. There is a medical superintendent and a board at the hospital. There are certain structures within the hospitals that should be used to account for the money that is meant for Level 5 hospitals. It is not just for Level 5 hospitals. All the monies that are meant for hospitals should go to the hospitals. All the conditional allocations should also go directly to the implementing agencies as opposed to going to county government accounts from where release of those monies starts to create issues, delays and other problems. The counties also need to spend their money on a 50:50 ratio – 50 per cent for development and 50 per cent for Recurrent Expenditure. We still have counties that spend over 70 per cent of their funding on Recurrent Expenditure which is not very useful. As I wind up, the fight against corruption needs to be intensified. In the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, we have requested the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to pick one or two counties to do lifestyle audits. In fact, the competition in the Committee is which county will start. Nairobi looks like a natural one but many counties ought to have lifestyle audits done for their officers. I can see Taita Taveta, Homa Bay, and Mandera counties are requesting. Nyeri County is on the queue. 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."
}