{"id":807307,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/807307/?format=json","text_counter":268,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Molo, JP","speaker_title":"Hon. Francis Kimani","speaker":{"id":13435,"legal_name":"Francis Kuria Kimani","slug":"francis-kuria-kimani"},"content":"from that small market at Salama in Kasarani and Elburgon pays some money every day to the county government for their licences. Even that boda boda operator who is riding the boda boda on a very bad road being rained on trying to earn a living is still taxed to give money to the county government but this money does not go to maintenance of those roads. Some counties have levies on licence applications. That money is supposed to go for tourism promotion but when you look at the programmes that these counties have in tourism promotion, they are almost non-existent. Many of the counties remain without a fire extinguisher but business people in these counties still contribute money to cater for emergencies like fire. So, we are paying for services that are not availed to the constituents. As much as I support this Bill, let us look at how the counties are spending this money. The counties that generate the most revenues from their citizens should get the most. The counties that prove best how to use their revenues should be allocated more. But this blanket way of saying county “x” has a particular population so we are allocating them money “y”, county “y” has this number of projects so we are allocating them this money without looking at how this money is spent, should end. We should look at the way to run this country as the way we would run a business. There is no need of making investment in a project that has no return. There is no need of investing money in a county that does not care for the quality and the value of money on projects done. Lastly, let me talk about corruption. We gave birth to this baby called devolution. We must by all means support it. We are not going to support it if we are devolving the eating of these public funds. Every time you go to these counties, you hear serious anomalies of misallocation of funds. We are giving this money to the counties but we want accountability and value for money. We are requesting these county governments to prioritise the projects that have already been allocated money so that we ensure continuity because those projects do not belong to the former governors, they belong to wananchi that we are all elected to serve. With that, I beg to support this Bill."}