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{
    "id": 714928,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/714928/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Musyimi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 95,
        "legal_name": "Mutava Musyimi",
        "slug": "mutava-musyimi"
    },
    "content": "On this matter, finally, the key issue that needs to be addressed in the counties is the weak accountability and oversight processes. The national Government should, therefore, increase resources towards building necessary capacity on county financial management and oversight. That is not just a problem at the county level, but it is also a problem in other sectors of the Government. With respect to vertical division of revenue for 2017/2018 Financial Year, I have the following to say, that the BPS indicates that the total shareable revenue for 2017/2018 is Kshs1.45 trillion. It proposes to allocate Kshs1.24 trillion to the national Government and Kshs299.1 billion to county governments. The allocation to counties will be a 6.7 per cent increment from the last financial year’s allocation of Kshs280.3 billion. In addition, the counties have to be allocated Kshs34 billion as conditional grants bringing the total funds to county governments to Kshs333.1 billion. This is equivalent to 32.3 per cent of the most recent audited revenues which is a major improvement and a major statement by the Jubilee Government about its commitment to financing devolution and supporting it in all ways possible. We can only hope that county governments will reciprocate by making sure that this money is well spent. Given the current inflation of 6.5 per cent, this amount will only cover changes in prices with no additional resources in real terms. But these are matters we will have to deal with at the global level. My Committee is concerned that there are devolved functions that are still being allocated resources at the national level. These functions should be reviewed. My Committee also wishes to highlight that the free maternity healthcare is an important policy whose impact is probably muted on account of the resources being transferred to counties as conditional grants. This Committee is in consultation with the Departmental Committee on Health and recommends that the free maternal health care funds be disbursed through the NHIF as it has a wider reach and is more efficient. Hon. Speaker, allow me then to proceed to highlight some policy recommendations from the Committee. I do not think we have time to go into that, suffice to say that one of the documents I have laid on the Table of the House today is Annex II, which is a very important document. You will find that all the recommendations of the various Committees are contained in that document, laid on the Table of the House this afternoon and is, therefore, the property of the House. I plead that Members make themselves aware of the recommendations of the Committees. In particular, I will be asking that the National Treasury takes a very keen interest in the specific recommendations by the Committees because these are key oversight recommendations with very useful information from the representatives of the people. I hope, believe and trust that the National Treasury will harvest this remarkable resource of information and insight that is now made available by very specific recommendations of the Committees after a lot of work over the last couple of weeks. By way of recommendations on the BPS and the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDMS), I wish to say the following as I conclude: My Committee is concerned that despite this House making far reaching recommendations on the BPS as well as adopting the MTDMS to guide the Government’s borrowing plans, they are rarely adhered to during the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}