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{
    "id": 655347,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/655347/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am also happy to note that this year, unlike the years gone by, the Senate has been involved at the informal negotiations. The Chair of the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget has been involved. In the past, the Senate was left out. This Bill is a product of a lot of negotiations. The CRA, CoG and IBEC have made recommendations. The parliamentary committees and the national executive were all involved. Therefore, I do not expect a lot of debate save for a few things. First, this year the counties are getting approximately Kshs302 billion as part of the sharable revenues from the national Government. That is the agreed amount. This Bill also proposes a number of conditional grants. Notable is the conditional grant of Kshs4.1 million to support free maternal health care. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Members are aware that the Jubilee Government on 9th April, 2013 announced the free maternity services in the entire country. Most of the facilities where maternity services are offered are facilities under the county governments. So, what the Government has done is to reimburse counties for the fees they would have charged mothers who are getting maternity services at the health centres, dispensaries and hospitals under county governments. Therefore, this grant of Kshs4 billion will offset that amount so that counties do not suffer pecuniary loses as a result of offering free maternity services. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, secondly, there is also a conditional grant to support the medical equipment leasing arrangement which is currently a subject of public debate. The national government is assisting to equip two hospitals per county which are jurisdictionally under the county governments. These are the Level 4 and 5 hospitals. They are equipped with MRI equipment, CT scans and dialysis equipment in order to shorten the distance that the public has to travel to get these services. It is also aimed at reducing the expenses that many Kenyans go through to travel to Kenyatta National Hospital or Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret for treatment of serious ailments such as heart, cancer and kidney diseases. This conditional grant will make sure that more hospitals are equipped. Nearly 20 hospitals have been equipped and the rest are in the process of being equipped with medical equipment for specialised treatment."
}