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{
    "id": 655423,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/655423/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 419,
    "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 would like to start by drawing your attention to the Speaker’s Gallery. It is empty. You should issue a reprimand to the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). When we are discussing this Bill, they are supposed to sit there. That is the tradition of Parliament. When such a Bill on the budget is being discussed in the National Assembly, the National Treasury is ably represented by senior officers so that they can take into account some of the views hon. Senators are making for purposes of perfecting the Bill in the next financial year. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill but I would like the public to know that for the last three years, governors have been behind lack of knowledge surrounding this Bill by members of the public. They mislead them that the reason why they have challenges in the county is because there is a problem with the policy from the national Government. This is a lie. Therefore, as provided for in Clause 5, I would like the public to know that over and above the equitable sharable revenue for every county, this Senate through the Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget has worked many long hours with the National Treasury and the CRA. We have settled and provided for extensive amounts of money in the name of conditional grants. This includes grants for Level 5 hospitals, and special purpose grants for supporting emergency medical services. We thought about this in view of only two counties bordering the Somalia; to equip the hospitals in Lamu and Hola to meet the emergency requirements, especially surgical procedures. It includes conditional grants for maternal health care as envisaged by the announcement by the President earlier on in his term. He wanted to ensure that under the leadership of the Jubilee Government, the public would get access to free maternal health services. This has been provided for. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is a provision for an allocation to compensate county health facilities for foregone user fee revenue. Members of the public need to understand what this money is meant for. It allows all Government hospitals to give outpatient free medical services. The national Government then compensates the county administration for those services. Therefore, first, there would be no reason whatsoever why a member of the public should be asked to pay any fee at the outpatient. Secondly, there would be no reason why services would plummet for lack of money because this conditional allocation is given to the county governments. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is an equal allocation of Kshs95 million to all county governments to ensure that the medical equipment that was purchased under suspect procurement procedures by the National Treasury is actually paid for and is not a strain on the county governments. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}