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{
    "id": 848552,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/848552/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 54,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, challenges abound and at some point, county governments were accused of having embraced corruption as if it was one of the devolved functions. The county assemblies were also entangled in the corruption world where governors were alleged to have bought their loyalty and crippled oversight. Today, I stand here proud of the County Assembly of Vihiga as the Members have performed their oversight role extremely well. At the county, my constituents refer to me as “Baba County” because they understand the fact that the Senate is the House that debates and passes the County Allocation of Revenue Bill that outlines how counties share the total allocated revenue from the national Government. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Senate has always ensured counties get the best bargain in the allocation of revenue when considering the Division of Revenue Bill. Senators may recall that the last 11th Parliament, the Senate went up to the highest court in the land; the Supreme Court, to fight for the involvement of the Senate in the division of revenue between the two levels of government. On my part as the Senator for Vihiga, I have on numerous occasions personally raised questions on the delayed disbursement of funds to the counties and the National Treasury has responded, in most cases, favourably. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it pains my heart when reports emerge that counties are mismanaging the money disbursed to them. It is very wrong for a majority of citizens in the counties to continue enduring poor sanitation, poor rural roads, infrastructure, below standards health services and increasing poverty levels, yet county governments receive billions of shillings every financial year to tackle these problems. I commend the County Assembly of Vihiga for setting in motion the process of investigating corrupt county executive members at the county on Monday, 23rd July, 2018. I stand proud of my county assembly for being steadfast in pointing out corruption. For the record, in the 11th Parliament, the county forwarded a petition to the Senate which was deliberated on, concluded and reported its findings to this House and in addition forwarded the recommendations to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. I call upon the current Director of Public Prosecutions to have a look at both the Petition and the Senate Report and take necessary action to implement the recommendations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I stand here today, I want to encourage Members of the Vihiga County Assembly to remain steadfast in ensuring accountability of the county executive. The fight against corruption will not be easy. It is bound to continue being complex, tough, messy and dangerous, given that corruption is tempting and fights back viciously. I urge the MCAs not to give in to compromise. Above all, they should be fair and just in the committees as they carry out the investigations. I want to urge my colleagues, individual Senators, to take time and investigate the absorption of money allocated to their county governments. I have noted with dismay that majority of the counties fail to utilize development allocation with some managing to utilize a paltry 20 percent. In my case, Vihiga County managed to utilize only 23 percent of the development funds of the 2017/2018 county approved budget while at the time utilizing above 95 percent of the allocated recurrent budget. Such instances provide opportunities for corruption as is the case currently in Vihiga County. 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."
}