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{
    "id": 787951,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/787951/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 596,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "First and foremost, if there is going to be any constitutional conversation in this country that will reach the reengineering of the Constitution, one of the things that ought to be addressed is to redefine what is shareable. You cannot share revenue based on audited accounts of three or four years ago on the budget of today. Given the inability of both the Office of the Auditor- General and Parliament to keep abreast with financial years in auditing public revenue, we need to shift gear and base the shareable resources on the national Budget so that if a Budget is Kshs2 trillion and we are talking of 30 per cent going to the counties, then that percentage must reflect those trillions. We should not talk of billions when the Budget is in trillions. We must keep abreast with that. Madam Temporary Speaker, secondly, is on the issue of how the funds for the last five years sent to counties have been managed. The institutions of governance in this country are weak, inept or totally unable to function. We have many institutions of governance; oversight from the assemblies, oversight in the Senate, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Office of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and above all, we have the Office of the Auditor-General and the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC). However, all these governance institutions are unable to arrest the misapplication and pilfering of public funds to the extent that you find in certain counties, programmes that reflect in the books are non-existent on the ground. Today, I was amused to see the EACC naming two or so counties as the most corrupt with no corresponding statistics to show that; these being the most corrupt, they have arrested and prosecuted this number of people for these specified offences of corruption for us to call them so. When you look at the performance of the counties being called most corrupt, they are performing better than the ones that are left out. You wonder what criteria are being used. Madam Temporary Speaker, back to the Bill, I would like to point out the issue of leasing of equipment. The contract for leasing of equipment to our hospitals was tabled in this House in the last Parliament. I think my brother, Sen. Hargura, who was in that House, can remember. This was a contract for a fixed period running for seven years. The figure for repayment had been pegged at about Kshs4.6 or Kshs4.7 billion; I am not exact on the figures. How has this figure moved to over Kshs9 billion? Are we repaying the debt so that we can finish paying for it earlier, or has something happened? I do not know of any debtor who would rush to pay a debt when they can use the funds on something else, more-so when it is a fixed payment period. We, therefore, need a proper explanation on how the cost for this equipment leased for hospitals shot up from Kshs5.4 billion to Kshs9.4 billion, almost doubling. What are we paying for? I remember that documents tabled in this House indicated that we are leasing things that are not leasable at all; they are all in the bandwagon. Madam Temporary Speaker, healthcare is a major challenge in this country. Those Members who frequent their constituencies know that apart from challenges of security, most of the issues brought to Members by their constituents are issues of education and health. People are unable to pay their bills in hospitals; some even have bodies of their loved ones detained by hospitals because they cannot afford to pay; people are dying of very preventable diseases, and so on, and so forth. 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."
}