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{
    "id": 645764,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/645764/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 283,
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    "content": "proposals and contributions that fellow Senators were making. I would like to seek two clarifications. If there could have been some regulations with regards to how the money was contributed, could the Chairperson seek from the CoG what assessment formula was used to assign the amount of money that was to be contributed by each county? From what we have heard, it has neither rhyme nor reason, given what we know from the counties on population, GDP or level of poverty. Secondly, I would like to raise two questions with regard to the funds that have been utilized. I notice that in office rent, they used over Kshs41 million in the 2013/2014 Financial Year which then shot up to over Kshs134 million in 2014/2015, then it went down to Kshs62 million in 2015/2016 Financial Year. This could mean that the governors suddenly shrunk the office facilities and decided to use fewer offices in terms of rent. Was that the case? On the issue of office maintenance and partitioning, there is shrinkage and ballooning similar to the office rent. I would like to get clear clarification from the auditor to know whether this is creative accounting or this kind of accounting reflects reality. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Senators have made an extremely important point that whereas we have been struggling as a Senate to increase the money that goes to the counties so that critical services like health and Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) are financed and whereas the governors have always been chiding the national Government for not sending them money in time for them to use, when it comes to the contributions of money to this fund; they seem to have been done that rather promptly. This puts our pressure to take money to county in jeopardy at this point in time. We are not convinced by this kind of presentation that we have governors who can use money responsibly. I would like to give an example of my county, Kisumu County, which to date has contributed Kshs27 million to this fund. I know for certain that in terms of implementing the ECDE facilities, we are behind. Therefore, the priority given to financing essential services at the county level and given the scarcity of funds that the Government has been talking about, is not evidenced or supported by this kind of expenditure. Therefore, in our communication to the Auditor-General, the Ministry of Devolution and the CoG themselves, it should be made clear that the Senate, in our oversight capacity, have made this object observation. As Sen. Orengo said earlier, this is evidence that it is high time the governors bowed out and created room for much more responsible people to look after public funds. This is in national interest as well as in the interest of preserving devolution by the community of devolution, which includes the Senators, the county executives and the county assemblies. That is why the devolution conference that is to start tomorrow in Meru County was misplaced in its conception. This because although we are talking about devolution to be discussed by the devolution community, only one member of that community, the governors have allocated themselves the responsibility of reviewing devolution. It is incumbent upon us, as Senators, that sometime later this year or early next year, do a comprehensive and sensible evaluation of devolution and give the nation a way forward. 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"
}