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    "id": 646025,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/646025/?format=api",
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    "content": "share, that is, more than 20 per cent. Be it as it may, I support the 20 per cent and hope that in the next formula, we will give a bigger weight on poverty because even in the cities, when you go to slum areas, you find real poverty in our midst. People in the rural areas cannot afford three meals a day and they are lucky if they afford one meal. Therefore, the issue of poverty must be tackled more vigorously than we are right now doing. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to make reference to Article 204 of the Constitution which created the Equalization Fund. This is an issue that we must resolve once and for all in this House. Since the equalization fund was created by the Constitution, nothing has been done. It was agreed that 0.5 per cent of revenue was to be put in a special fund and allocated to the counties that had been marginalized since Independence. My County of Kitui is one of those counties that have been marginalized and I know that there are many others including West Pokot. However, that money lies with the National Treasury to date. Four years down the line, the money is yet to be disbursed. I insist that this House should be responsible for the allocation of this money. Although the other House is saying that the money should be put under Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), that is not right. This is money that was meant to go to counties. We must therefore be told where that money is, when it is going to be allocated and to whom it is going to be allocated. Land area is also a very important consideration. We have given it 8 per cent yet I know that there are counties with large areas, for instance Kitui County is 30,000 square kilometers. Therefore, while I support the 8 per cent that has been given, I think that we should rethink that percentage. We should rethink the three areas; land area and poverty. We are talking about fiscal responsibility. It is a good idea because it gives incentives to counties and governors to be more responsible in management of funds. However, as of now, we are not giving anyone incentives in the present set of counties to the extent that we can give them this 2 per cent. If given, it will just be money put in a deep hole. Therefore, if I had my way, I would have recommended that this 2 per cent go probably to land area and make it 10 per cent instead of 8 per cent. Fiscal responsibility is lacking in counties. Someone said it is as if we devolved corruption. We had one centre of corruption at the national level but now we have created one plus 47; so, there are 48 centres of corruption in this country. I say this because we keep on talking about the money that the national Government will allocate to counties without thinking about the local revenue that the counties are supposed to collect. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my county, there is no accountability in as far as local revenue is concerned. I suspect this is the money which governors are misusing, dishing it out here and there because they think, wrongly so, that the national Government or the Auditor-General has no mandate to audit it. There are all sorts of allegations going on regarding this revenue. Our poor folks; women in markets are being harassed by county governments. They collect money from them, only for it to end up in the pockets of a few. Therefore, I urge the Auditor-General, that, as much as he claims not to have personnel or funds; this is where we are failing this country. We have fellows called auditors in the county headquarters but they are so junior that they have also been 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"
}