Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 719949,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719949/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 253,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Okoth",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12482,
        "legal_name": "Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth",
        "slug": "kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"
    },
    "content": "The Division of Revenue Bill is important. As it has been said in our new constitutional system, devolution is a crown jewel. I have listened carefully the whole afternoon and I heard some conservatives in this House wanting to claw back on the gains of devolution. Actually, that helped me to guide my thoughts. As you look at this Budget and the Division of Revenue Bill to share the revenues, you will notice that allegedly, 32 per cent of the money is going to the county governments, and therefore, about 68 per cent remains with the national Government. That requires very careful understanding. What is the national Government responsible for? Who does it employ and what are its priorities and functions? We have the police and national security, the military, the teachers, a small part of the national health care service and the overall national bureaucracy in the national Government. That to my understanding, does not constitute and is not worthy of the 68 per cent of the revenue as it were. That can be reduced to 50 per cent of the revenue. If you want to think about the duties and tasks of our county governments, the jobs of the members of the county assemblies (MCAs), the staff of county assemblies, the bureaucracy involved in functions like agriculture, health care, basic education, roads and other functions, considering that a majority of our people do not live in Nairobi where the national Government is housed, but live in the counties, it is about time we looked carefully and people need to be careful and consistent and not just give us cheap talk. Several Members in this House have said that it is time to look at and review the functions and bring some back to the national Government. If you really want that debate in an honest way, let us have a constitutional conference and let us review a part of the Constitution. Before the Constitution was passed, we were told that 20 per cent was wrong and 80 per cent was right. It is time to do a constitutional review. It is time to okoa Kenya. We brought a proposal and it was ignored. It had questions about division of revenue and functions."
}