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{
    "id": 787931,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/787931/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 576,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me the chance to make my contribution. From the very onset, I want it to be on record that I support the Division of Revenue Bill (National Assembly Bills No.7 of 2018). It is also good for me to say I support the sentiments expressed by my fellow Senators. We all know all Bills we discuss in this House are important. However, in terms of rank of importance and the strata of where this particular Bill stands, I think it sits at the apex. This is because it gives us a sense of life as an institution in regards to our contributions and thoughts that we share as Senators on behalf of the people that we represent here. We hope the contributions that we make year in, year out, will be taken into consideration by the Treasury. We, as an institution, will continue improving our thoughts that we share together. This includes the reports that we table here either from the Committee on Finance and Budget, which is a Committee that I have served in a number of years now--- We enjoy working on this Bill, especially where we engage both the CRA and Treasury. We listen to the reasoning that informs some of the decisions captured in this Bill. Article 218(1)(a) of our Constitution guides me as I make my contributions. This is something that I have grappled with as a leader for a long time. It says:- “A Division of Revenue Bill, which shall divide revenue raised by the national government among the national and county levels of government in accordance with this Constitution---.” The operational word here is ‘raised.’ It means that it is an event that has already taken place thus what we are doing is dividing what is readily available. That is the vision and the aspiration of our Constitution. In many occasions, I have observed that the drafting and the writings on this Constitution are aspirational. These are things we are supposed to live with. We may not be in a position to achieve them right now. However, it is our hope that we will achieve it in the future. I want to believe that the drafters of our Constitution envisioned a time whereby at the end of a particular financial year, we would be able to say during financial year (x), (y) and (z), we collected this amount of money. When that is done, we can then divide some to go to the counties. It has to at least meet the parameters that have been set out in our Constitution of 15 per cent with a growth factor and those many things. However, the practice which should worry this House and us, as Senators, because it consistently continues to happen, is that what we divide is not readily available. It should worry us because even after the passage of the Division of Revenues Bill and the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA), it is not a guarantee that what 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."
}