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{
    "id": 722239,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/722239/?format=api",
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    "content": "Government, except for the fact that, obviously, all money that is taxed comes from the national Government. Therefore, the Roads Maintenance Levy should be maintained as per the recommendation of the CRA. In the further provisions made by the CRA, there is Kshs200 million; special purpose conditional grant for medical purposes. This money was allocated for the purposes of two counties in Level Four hospitals specifically Lamu and Tana River, which is a very reasonable request, given the fact that many people who are involved in insecurity situations in that region are taken to those hospitals. Indeed, it is a short distance to take people to even if you are taking them from Kismayu or such nearby areas where our forces are in Somalia. It makes sense to have those hospitals equipped; in fact, by a much larger margin than what we are talking bout in this areas. When you think about that whole vast area from Garissa all the way to Lamu and Tana River County which is one of the biggest counties in this country and you look at the medical facilities that are in that region, you can appreciate that it would make a lot of sense to have at least one of those lagging behind, at least Lamu and Tana River being properly equipped. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, further, the CRA had recommended some Kshs5 billion to address the issue of regional centres for cancer. Any politician and all citizens of this country will appreciate the amount of money that we are spending sending people to the United Kingdom (UK), India or South Africa to deal with cancer. It has become a real killer in our country. The CRA had made perfect recommendations in saying that there are two hospitals that have capacity to grow into some regional centres for cancer, one of them being Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and the Nyeri Level Five Hospital. To save my life, I cannot understand why anybody would say that this money should not be allocated to these hospitals given the background that we have, cancer patients and the amount of money we are spending for overseas treatment of patients in our country. I would therefore; recommend that as this discussion goes on in Naivasha, this House recommends that this amount as recommended by the CRA be reinstated. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the amount of wastage in our counties, to a large extent has to do with the level of technology that is being used in those counties. The Senator for Kakamega has just given us two examples of counties that have increased their revenues; Meru and Kiambu. In both counties, we have all read about the use of technology in revenue collection. This is an area that counties should be allocating a percentage of the recourses allocated to them. This is because technology cuts across all areas. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you also heard the recommendation from the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) about the health centers. As I speak, Kenyans are dying because doctors are on strike. If you look at the Fourth Schedule of our Constitution, health matters have already been devolved to the county governments. I do not know why Kenyans, including the national Government, have not grasped this issue. The employer of doctors is not the Ministry of Health. Doctors are not employed by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health; they are employed by the county governments. In view of the fact that it is now clear that the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that was signed by the previous governments was tainted with illegality, as it were, this matter should be clear. County governments should take responsibility; doctors 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"
}