{"id":704380,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/704380/?format=json","text_counter":278,"type":"other","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Commerce and Budget whether he was ware. He also raised it with the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and we realised that it had been done. If you asked the Members of the National Assembly, they will tell you that the Senate has no business in this. Now, they have gone to the extent of even amending the Constitution and they want us to rubberstamp it, so that they can continue doing the wrongs they have been doing to this country. Already, the Members of the National Assembly have arrogated themselves the responsibility of the public. They are the ones who identify the projects without public participation. We do not know this entity called ‘constituency.’ We only have two levels of government; the national Government and the county governments. That is why the article on Equalisation Fund talks of the two levels of governments. This Bill tries to create another level, which has the capacity to execute government functions, when we know that the constituency is a political entity and it has no executive capacity. Madam Speaker, the Equalisation Fund shall be used by the meeting with monies appropriated under Paragraph (a) to the respective constituencies of the areas identified under Article 216(4). It shall also be used by those constituencies for the purpose of which the appropriation was made in accordance with such funds as Parliament may establish. That means it is like a constituency has a capacity to implement, but you know very well they do not have. They only have the county government and sub-counties which have administrators and government officers from the county government. So, that will still raise more questions. How will these projects be implemented on the ground? Who is supposed to provide the actual execution like the technical staff? Where will the constituencies get this? So, basically, this does not look like somebody was interested in delivering any projects. It was just a matter of getting money out of the national Government. When it lands on the ground, it will take the same route as CDF and the Roads Fund. It will be the same thing. So, I support one of the Members who said that this is just creating some campaign money for some individuals. We should not be used to be part of that system which creates those kinds of illegalities. Madam Speaker, what we would have been talking about here is how to enhance the amount allocated to the Equalisation Fund. I remember when CRA said that it was only 14 counties which were to benefit, Sen. Musila raised a lot of issues and his was number 15. The main issue was that the Fund is not adequate. It will be spread thinly if we go up to maybe number 20 on that list of prioritization. Nevertheless, the way to cure is to increase the funding. So, what I would have expected from the National Assembly would have been to increase that 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent. That would have done the justice required. It is a fund which has a limited time of 20 years. That is what I would have expected. The other question is how much has been collected to-date. The Constitution says that: “Any unexpended money in the Equalisation Fund at the end of a particular financial year shall remain in that Fund for use in accordance with Clause (2) and (3) during subsequent financial years.” This Constitution was passed in 2010. How much has been generated to-date? Has it been spent or it is still in that account? Those are the questions we are asking and require 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"}