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{
    "id": 851722,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/851722/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 227,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "There is KeNHA, KURA and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) who will give you a letter of no objection once they have looked at the specific requirement of that specific road. They check if the advertisement that you are proposing will affect visibility on the road and whether it is the prescribed size. For you to get that service, you might need to pay a minimal fee. When they give you the non-objection, you go to the relevant county government which can only licence you if you have a non-objection. It is the same logic that applies when I want to put up a billboard along Kirichwa Road where Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. likes to hang around. I cannot just go and put up a billboard in his compound. I have to get a non-objection indicating that he agrees that I can do it then we can possibly get into a rental agreement. In fact, all of those who have billboards on their premises, whether is it is a private building or schools, are receiving income from the companies that are participating in that. This is an area that has potentially high revenue for counties. As you have stated, in 2016, there was around Kshs700 to Kshs800 million from Nairobi City County but the potential is much higher and that is why we welcome such regulation. However, it should not inhibit business but it should regulate it so as to make sure that aesthetics are taken into account. The kind of advertisements being done should be taken into account and we must support controls that ensure that counties get revenue. This is an industry that thrives and employs very many young people. We have those who put up those facilities and bring them down, those who design and those who are in graphics. Therefore, there is a lot of merit in having such a law though this law provides a legal framework for the counties whose assemblies have not legislated. Nairobi City County already has a law though in the hierarchies of laws, their law is null and void to the extent of contradiction, if any, with this Bill. Therefore, there will then be need for them to analyse where their law might contradict this one, if it is passed by this good House. The main issue that is coming out, when you listen to Senators talk, is that of the potential of counties to raise revenue being either diminished or not being allowed to happen based on the lack of proper legislation. Before we even discuss that, we have the issue of delayed disbursement to counties. In the last two months, my Committee has toured six or so counties and that is the cry everywhere. They are saying that they have not received their disbursements. The Committee on Finance and Budget needs to tell us if it is a problem of cash flow. We need to know if there is money or it is not there. Is it something that the county governments are not doing? They tell us that they have not received a single disbursement in the entire quota, yet we go there to oversight asking them: ‗Why have you not paid this? Why are you not doing this?‘ That leaves the Senate with a lot of egg on the face. They keep saying that the Senate has no discussed this. We passed the Cash Disbursement Schedule in this House. I was very proud of that and I went to the streets of Kayole and Dandora and told Nairobians that: ‗As your Senator, I have secured Kshs15.8 billion because that is the work of the Senator. However, the County says that my statement is a lot of hot air, in English, because I am talking of Kshs15.8 billion yet they have not received even the first tranche that they are supposed to receive. The conversation on own sources is very welcome and Article 209 The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}