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{
    "id": 698586,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/698586/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
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    "content": "public resources or pilfered them at one stage or another because we keep on saying that there are a lot of flaws in a number of county governments. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, while on recess last time – I am not saying we will go on recess because for me, what is indicated in the Motion is very clear – I witnessed compilation of projects in all marginalised areas regarding the Equalisation Fund. My understanding is that as a Senate, we have a responsibility. The Constitution is fairly very clear on counties that are marginalised. Article 204 of the Constitution clearly says that the national Government may use the Equalisation Fund only to the extent that the expenditure is approved by Parliament. It can either directly or indirectly allocate money through conditional grants to marginalised counties. Members of the National Assembly have funded project priorities or programmes in the counties. Therefore, the Senate’s role gets diminished in this. That money is meant for counties where marginalisation existed before and the right thing should have been to take it to counties but with input from the Senators. I do think the national Government has done the right thing in doing this. It is important that we get involved as Senators. Finally, we are coming to what one of my colleagues called a home stretch but I will call it the final lap. This is 2016. As we move towards the end of our term, we need to protect public resources more than ever. Maybe one of our representatives in the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) should explain to us. I happened to co-chair the issue of oversight funds with Sen. Murungi. Later, we established a committee in this House to help us move on and see when we can get the funding. It is important that we get the funds at one stage to enable us to go and monitor what has happened and evaluate the performance of counties. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a number of counties have spent billions on projects some of which are not even visible. So, it is important that we work out how to get funds to help Senators move to rural parts of counties, so that we see how the billions we have passed in this House have been utilised. With those few statements, I support the Motion."
}