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{
    "id": 777072,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/777072/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 33,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "(1) National policies and programmes that have direct impact on economic performance of counties. (2) Proposals on division of revenue between the two levels of Government and among counties for the Financial Year 2017/18. The 2018 BPS mainly focuses on the ‘Big Four,’ which aims at creating jobs and transforming lives in Kenya. It is important to note that three out of the ‘Big Four’are devolved functions, that is, health, agriculture and housing. However, the policy was silent on the role of the counties in accomplishing the ‘Big Four.’ Standing Order No. 174(6) of the Senate states as follows:- “The report of the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget shall contain policy and financial recommendations on matters and functions related to counties and a proposal on the division of revenue between the national and county levels of government’. In this regard, the Committee made the following recommendations:- (1) An amendment of Section 25(7) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012 to extend the timelines for the consideration of the BPS by Parliament from the current 14 days to 30 days. In our opinion 14 days was very short. (2) The role of county government in realization of the ‘Big Four’ plan should have been explicitly stated in the 2018 BPS as most of the key initiatives under the plan are devolved. (3) To make the ‘Big Four’ plan a reality, the National Treasury and Ministry of Planning should provide a master plan or blueprint (Medium Term Plan III) that clearly spells out the agenda/strategy/policies with results matrix for resource allocation as well as a monitoring and evaluation framework. (4) To enable implementation of the ‘Big Four” plan at the county level, there should be subsequent allocation to counties for new conditional grant. Currently, village polytechnics are devolved but the budget line, which shows the conditional grant, only mentions rehabilitation of the village polytechnics. We would like to include development and equipment of village polytechnics and expansion of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE). This is because the current idea of rehabilitation only will not be there. Many counties do not have polytechnics while others have many of them. There is disparity and we need to harmonise so as to give equal attention to all the counties. We also expect boosting of agricultural production among the small-scale farmers and pastoral communities. This must be funded. In addition, the protection of environment to address the dual problem of water scarcity and climate change must be adequately addressed. (5) In order to reduce the pending bills in counties, because they are currently at an alarming proportion, the National Treasury in collaboration with the Controller of Budget should institute measures that will guarantee credible budgets with better alignments to County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs), County Annual Development Plans and County Fiscal Strategy Papers. As of now, I think that all these are just papers and nobody is aligning the budget with those documents. 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."
}