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{
    "id": 878097,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/878097/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 538,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mahamud",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 373,
        "legal_name": "Mohammed Maalim Mahamud",
        "slug": "mohammed-mahamud"
    },
    "content": "The National Treasury should come up with the concrete measures to reduce the current debt to GDP ratio in net present value terms to the 50 per cent threshold provided in the Public Finance Management (PFM) regulations. The Anti-counterfeit Agency (ACA) and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS) need to enhance and sustain the fight against illicit trade and contrabands as this leads to unfair competition that may lead to collapse of the established genuine business enterprises including leakages in taxes. The National Treasury should critically examine the impact of counterfeits on the economy. This Report was tabled on the 26th February, 2019 and we are supposed to give our report in two weeks’ time. We recommend that Parliament should expedite the amendments of Section 25(7) of the PFM Act 2012 to extend the timelines for the consideration of the Budget Policy Statement by Parliament from 14 days to 28 days. This proposal should extend to the timelines for the consideration of the County Fiscal Strategy Paper by county assemblies. The Ministry of Agriculture must prioritise and address issues relating to the supply of affordable fertiliser, excess importation of sugar and maize and governance issues that have adversely affected production of staple foods. In addition, the Agriculture Research Fund should receive additional funding because it plays a key role in supporting key areas of production in the agricultural sector. The two levels of Government should operationalise the framework through which the Big Four Agenda will be achieved as some of the priority areas under the agenda are functions of county governments. Adequate funds should be provided for these areas. In fact, if the national Government wants to implement the Big Four Agenda, they must be prepared to give conditional funding to counties for the programmes to be undertaken. The National Treasury should make realistic projections of revenue so as to reduce supplementary budgets which distort budget implementation. The Senate in consultation with the Council of Governors (CoG) and the national Government should develop a framework for determining national referral hospitals and the Level 5 hospitals. Currently, it is very arbitrary the way the Level 5 hospitals are identified. We saw in the BPS that the national Government wants to build new referral hospitals but there must be some coordination between the Senate, the CoG and the national Government. We wanted to bring in the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IRTC) but we are told that it is moribund and it is almost not functioning. The Senate in consultation with the CoG and the national Government should undertake to determine the meaning and scope of the term ‘national interest’ to achieve a more effective equitable sharing of revenue between the two levels of government. The office of the Auditor-General, and this is where the discussion today about the medical equipment comes in, should undertake a performance audit on all health initiatives, including the Managed Equipment Service (MES) project and a report on the same be submitted to the Senate. From the discussion that we had with all the stakeholders, there is a lot of confusion in that programme and we need to get to the root of it. The Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) should be funded through conditional allocations to counties. It cannot be managed from the headquarters here. The financing 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."
}