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{
    "id": 647481,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/647481/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 393,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I second this Bill which is in our circle of events in the Senate. I thank the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget for offering me the opportunity to second it. First, may I share with Members what Mahatma Gandhi said. This is what he said:- “The world has enough for the needs of all men and women, but not enough for the greed of a few men.” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when I look at the increase in the amount of money that we are taking to the county governments - that is the conditional and sharable revenue totaling to Kshs302,197,516,719 - I can confidently tell the people of Kakamega County and other counties that this money is enough for the needs of the Kenyans. However, it is not enough for the greed of their governors. During Mahatma Gandhi’s days, corruption was not a big problem in the world. Like all the great thinkers in the world, Mahtma Gandhi was thinking ahead of his time. Now, the time is here and the world is exploiting her resources better, but the few men of the world in the national and county governments are making it difficult for Kenyans to enjoy their basic needs. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank and applaud the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) because without the KRA, the ordinary revenue-excluding the Appropriation-In- Aid (AIA) - would not have realised the increment in sharable revenue from Kshs1.2499 billion to Kshs1.38 billion. Therefore, we must applaud the KRA although they can do better. I support this Bill wholeheartedly without any amendment because we should carry out oversight more. President Uhuru Kenyatta said that he is not going to start new projects. We should also say our business is not to ask for more money, but to exercise better oversight over the counties so that the projects that have stalled should also be completed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to laud this Bill because the free maternal healthcare has been catered for. It has been allocated a whopping Kshs4.1 billion. We have to be very cautious about the free maternal healthcare. We have heard the Chairman condemn the misuse of public funds for ferrying watermelons to the conference in Meru. There are such many cases that we need to condemn across the republic. You are a Doctor of Medicine. Free maternal healthcare in a general hospital should simply mean that there is water for every delivery so that delivery is done in a clean environment. There should be gloves and other cheap drugs that are used during delivery. It, therefore, beats logic that governors are obsessed with organising investors’ conferences and installing street lights and forgetting that our maternity facilities must have water. Women had gone to deliver in a hospital because the President had announced that there is free maternal care. When they discovered that there was no water, they chose to go back and deliver at home. Hon. Senators, we must push our governors to think in terms of appropriate technology. We do not want our governors to be misguided the way the national 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"
}