Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 787905,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/787905/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 550,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "However, we possibly realised that there was too much money in a short a time with very little capacity to utilize it. I hope the governors will build the capacity of our people in the counties for them to do what they are supposed to do. It is very unfortunate that money is being sent to the counties, but there is nothing to show on the ground. Today, my county is ranked among corrupt counties. There is rampant corruption in our counties. We want to really avoid devolving corruption. Devolution has come and we would like to support it. We want as much money as possible to go there, but it should be properly used. We want more money to go there but it should be properly used. We would also like to have a say in the budgeting process of the counties. The Controller of Budget submits quarterly Budget Implementation Reports to this House but we want to see whether those budgets are realistic. Then there must be something which matches the funds that goes with their budget implementation so that money is not misapplied midstream. I believe that a lot of misapplication of funds is done by starting projects which are never completed. When we have a new administration, these projects are abandoned and new ones started. As of today, we have a serious problem, because most counties have new governors and projects which were initiated by their predecessors are not being funded. Instead, they are initiating and funding new projects. The same thing happened at the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). We would like to get a commitment from the county governors that they will complete the projects which were started for a good reason by their predecessors, irrespective of who the governor is. As the Senate, we should strengthen our oversight role. We should not just wait for petitions from our people to say this and that. We need to find a way of helping these counties to function. There is a lot of capacity building under conditional grants. We would like to see how this is done and how the money is utilised so that proper capacity building is done. Madam Temporary Speaker, as a Committee, we agreed that counties have adequate funds and it is incumbent upon them to utilise it properly. However, we will not allow the Treasury to amend The County Allocation of Revenue Act or The Division of Revenue Act midstream. There is no room for amending those two Acts. Nobody should contemplate amending those two Acts once they are assented to and have become Acts of Parliament. Counties can reallocate funds within their budget and do things within their counties. The national Government should let them do it within their budgets and they also must fund them. The Senate must be funded properly. We are currently funded under the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). We want, going forward to have our own vote-head like the National Assembly so that we can run our budget properly. We do not want to be a small department within the PSC just like the National Assembly does not want to be a department in the PSC. With those many remarks, I beg to second."
}