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{
    "id": 903890,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/903890/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 601,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "When you talk about security, what comes to mind are the unfortunate killings that are happening in Matungu Constituency in Kakamega County and the re-emergence of guns in Likoni in Mombasa County and in informal settlements in Nairobi City County. All these point to the critical role that security plays in the counties, in as much as many people would want to say that security is not a function of the counties. Anything that happens in any of the 47 counties touches on issues to do with county governments. When you look at the functions or powers of the county governments and those of the National Government as outlined in the Constitution, they are distinct. They have a symbiotic relationship. If, for example, the national Government is to generate the health policy, it will not generate it without the involvement of the county governments. At the end of the day, what the Constitution envisaged was to have an interdependent relationship between the national Government and county governments and they should work in consultation and mutual respect. I know the word “consultation” might confuse people because it was a famous word before the new Constitution when we had the Grand Coalition Government. Madam Temporary Speaker, when this Warehouse Receipt System Bill is being discussed, the issue of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and creating warehouses for cereals at the county shows that agriculture is fully devolved. There has been a tendency by the national Government to overlook county governments by coming back with claw back clauses despite the fact that both health and agriculture are devolved functions. When the Constitution said that we should be interdependent mutually but distinct, it meant that there should be consultation, mutual respect and a symbiotic relationship between county governments and the national Government. On the issue of equitable revenue sharing, I noted that Sen. M. Kajwang' at some point, tried to invoke the provisions of some sections of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act in instances when county governments do not use the resources prudently. The Senate has pronounced itself on the issue of equitable revenue sharing. In the last Financial Year, the baseline was Kshs314 billion. The Cabinet Secretary for national Treasury wanted to cut it by Kshs9 billion but the Senate has stood its ground that Kshs335 billion must go to counties. There should be no excuse that some counties do not use the resources prudently or that there is thriving corruption, plunder and lethargy in our county governments. This does not in any way mean that we should deny them resources. Let us allow them to have resources, and then, we put in place strong mechanisms of governance to ensure that the money is used as per the allocation."
}