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{
    "id": 887010,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/887010/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 234,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to speak to this Bill, which deals with a very important matter; that is allocation of revenue. First of all, I want to thank the Committee for the work it has done and especially the clarity with which it has presented its reports. It is important to note that whenever we talk about allocation of money in the two levels of government, Members of this House always seem to have a lot of interest. I wonder the reason for that interest. We need to do some bit of civic education on the role of the National Assembly and the Senate when it comes to these issues and the new Constitution. I say that it is new because we still have a few of us who are still operating under the old Constitution. We, as the National Assembly, have a role to play. Other than just allocating resources or approving the Bill, we need to be careful. There is a lot of money that goes directly to the county governments. The grants that have been read to us by the Chairman, Hon. Ichung'wah, need to be overseen thoroughly and yet, we are not doing that. What goes through our mind is that once the money has gone to the counties, we have no role in overseeing it. Perhaps, the county governments see us as intruders when we ask questions on what is happening. There is so much money that goes directly to the counties in form of grants. We can leave out the money that they budget for, which is Kshs310billion. We have Kshs9billion in the name of Road Levy Fund. When we do not pay attention to how this money is spent on the ground, then we could be opening a room for misuse. As Members of the National Assembly, we have to play a bigger role in overseeing the use of those funds. I know that some people will say that we are overstepping our mandate. If we had no role to play, then we would not have been given a role to allocate these funds in the first place. You cannot allocate funds and then be locked out from overseeing how the same funds are being utilised. The Chairman mentioned that there is a likelihood that the Bill will end up before the mediation committee, which is provided for in Article 113(1) of the Constitution. It says that the Speakers will constitute the mediation committee of equal numbers. Although it is a provision in the Constitution, it is something that we will need to address. This House has 349 Members and the Senate has 67 Members. When you say that the mediation committee will consist of equal numbers, there is something that is not adding up. The proper thing would be to constitute it on a"
}