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{
"id": 864819,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/864819/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 407,
"legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
"slug": "ledama-olekina"
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"content": "government that deducts money for the pension and their contribution, must on a quarterly basis submit their returns of the deductions to the Controller of Budget. That should also be pegged on the equitable share of revenue; such that before the Controller of Budget approves money to be sent to the county government, the first thing that they have to check is whether that county government behaved. They will also check whether the county government remitted their entire deductions. This is because you have no business deducting money from me, keeping it and not forwarding it to the fund. Therefore, that flexibility of 12 per cent should be maintained. On the issue of punitive sanctions for county governments, it should be put in such a way that it is mandatory. I am not so happy about the penalties that are charged to county governments, because this is money that can be used in other things. The national Government can deduct some of that money and send it directly to the fund. Therefore, if the county government can be made to also submit the quarterly returns of their members‟ deductions, then the fund must also agree that they have received this money. If so, it is fair enough and the Controller of Budget can release the entire amount which is due to the counties. However, in the event that some counties have become clever; they have deducted money and used it for other things, arguing that the Controller of Budget has not released the money, then the Controller of Budget should deduct that money at source. This is because we have been complaining. Earlier on today, Madam Temporary Speaker, we were about to debate the issue of the Managed Equipment Scheme (MES), which most governors do not understand whether that money is being deducted from their equitable share or not. In this case, it should be made very clear because we are busy fighting about our welfare. What is important about our current welfare when we can hustle? The most important time is when we have retired because you know that you worked. You will know, as a county government employee, that you went to the office very early in the morning; you appeared with your governor, clerk or the speaker of the county assembly. You were also grilled at the Senate and you worked for days and then, at the end of the day, you have nothing to show to your family. Therefore, this has to be made very clear; that if you deduct money from me, you must make sure that you remit it to the fund. If you contribute, as you are supposed to contribute for my retirement, then you must remit that money. Otherwise, penalizing them or telling them to pay a certain amount of fee as penalty will not help. Madam Temporary Speaker, the other important thing that is lacking in this Bill, and I hope we can be very serious with it, has to do with the issue of the money not remitted either to the Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPFUND) or the Local Authorities Pensions Trust (LAPTRUST), depending on which scheme county governments were contributing. I know, as a fact, that the figure is at the rate of about Kshs30 billion. This is a figure that we need to figure out. During this transition period, this Fund should compute how much money has not been forwarded to them by the county governments. The National Treasury should then deduct this money, because there is no way that these county governments can remit that money to the Fund. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has taken that step; they have started deducting money 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."
}