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{
    "id": 842875,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/842875/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 117,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Eng.) Mahamud)",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 373,
        "legal_name": "Mohammed Maalim Mahamud",
        "slug": "mohammed-mahamud"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have realised that we are now in mid-September. In fact, the Schedule was supposed to run from July. We urge the national Treasury to fast-track the disbursement of funds to the counties as soon as we pass this. The cash disbursement schedule is a very important instrument of goodwill that must be implemented to the letter by the national Treasury if we are to support our counties properly. However, you will realise that in the previous financial year, many delays were occasioned to the counties. Money was disbursed to the counties at the end of the financial year, towards June. That was in arrears of about five months and therefore a lot of money was sent the last minute. In the current CARA, we said that it must be on time without delays and deductions. You will realise that in the Third Schedule, there are a few things which have not yet been distributed. You are aware that the Division of Revenue Bill, 2018, has been amended by both Houses and waiting presidential assent. Once this is done, we will be forced to amend the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) and thereafter we will come back to the Schedule. Luckily, the schedules are now separated and also those amendments are only related to the loans and grants component of the funding to the counties. We will only then be amending the Third Schedule which relates to loans and grants from development partners. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I urge the Senate to pass this quickly so that we can now trigger the process of releasing of funds to the counties by the national Treasury. I thank my Committee for the support they have given. Going forward, I assure that we, as a Committee, will do our best to make sure that disbursement of funds to counties is not delayed. We must put a mechanism in place for monitoring and evaluation, so that we know how funds are disbursed to the counties. Currently, the requirement is that the National Treasury must publish every month in the gazette what they have disbursed. However, it is a limited documentation where they talk about what was allocated, what was disbursed and the balance. However, we want to know in the details how much of the various components have been disbursed and it is reported to us instead of putting in the newspapers. Let us have simultaneous reporting so that the Senate can be seized of the matter. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those many remarks, I beg to move and ask Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. to second."
}