Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 799021,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/799021/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 246,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "but also the donor funding, with a view to ensuring that they align the funds with the objectives of the identified priorities in the counties. In servicing of the contracts, I would like to go back to the managed equipment. Servicing of contracts is an issue that we probably need to look at so as to make sure that we are not holding ourselves at ransom without putting systems in place for that. The other thing that has been of concern to me and I do not know if the House is aware of, is the downgrading of our country’s credit. I do not know if it is as a result of our sovereign debt or as a result of other conditions but our country’s credit rating was downgraded a few months ago. I had a question for this House which has now been affected by the moratorium that we have on Statements but in line with this, what does our debt look like? We have been downgraded by Bretton woods; the credit rating agency. Is it for our sovereign debt and are these managed equipment part of that or what else should we be looking out for to ensure that our sovereign debts and our country’s credit rating does not suffer? We have already been downgraded as a country, which has had a ripple effect on our banks. The Co-operative Bank, Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank have also been downgraded because of their linkage and the fact that they are seen as our national banks. My worry is, how are these things linking to our sovereign credit profile, our banks credit profile and our country and what is the role of the Senate in ensuring that we oversight these types of downgrades? As soon as the moratorium and issues around Statements are lifted, I will seek a Statement on that from the Ministry concerned and from the Central Bank but we need to cast our nets wider to ensure that the activities that we do, link to a bigger picture. Our mitigation as the Senate is also important, so that we do not confine our oversight to the small activities that counties do, but the bigger picture that is influenced under the ripple effect that some of these things are having on our counties and the entire country as a whole. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not wish to speak too much on the nitty-gritties, because the Committee has done a good job. I would like to commend the Committee for its diligence and the public and stakeholder participation that it has sought. That said, I would urge us to have a global perspective also as concerns revenue, expenditure and risks, so that we can oversight along the continuum of both international and the lowest levels of service provision. As we pass legislations and vote for the County Allocation of Revenue Bill and other bills that come to this House, we should ensure that all aspects and risks have been managed accordingly. However, the constitutional provisions and other aspects have all been taken care of with the caveat that the percentages need to be made more factual and current, as opposed to them going backwards many years. Therefore, even if we were to interrogate the factuality of it, we should not hide under the lapsed timeframes that we look at. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for the opportunity to give my contributions."
}