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{
    "id": 927682,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/927682/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Garissa Township, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Aden Duale",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "So, we are being called enemies of devolution by the governors and citizens of our good country on the basis of unexplained figures. I have said that when the CS for the National Treasury tables his Budget Policy Statement (BPS), it has interim figures on how to guide the whole budget. You cannot wake up one morning and say: “I am giving counties Kshs355 billion.” You know I watch football. In games like football, you see people being awarded cups and medals. In our roles of oversight, representation and legislation, you do not get medals or cups at the end of the game. What you do is you protect the Constitution and you represent and defend the sovereign will of the people as expressed in Article 1 of the Constitution. In that article, the people have delegated their powers to us. That is what we are doing this afternoon. This cake of the national revenue does not just appear magically. It does not just drop from the sky. The Senate and the governors are not applying their minds to the serious question that this House interrogates the sharing of the national cake. They are salivating about a cake. Who bakes the cake? The Senate has no role in this cake called the national budget. So, Hon. Speaker, through you, I want to ask them whether they know the ingredients of this cake. The Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, the Chair of Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning and all Chairs know. Do they know who bakes this cake? Do they know who shares the cake? Do they know who eats the cake? Do they know who cleans the plate after the cake is eaten and do they know who pays for the cake? This is what we need to understand. The only institution under the Constitution that bakes the cake; that knows the ingredients; that shares the cake and that eats part of the cake is the National Assembly. Each year, this House shares the national revenue cake to the Executive, Parliament, the Judiciary and the county governments. Once we share this cake in a very reasonable manner to the best interest of the people of Kenya, the Constitution requires the Senate to thereafter also share the piece we have allocated to the 47 county governments. That is why the Senate will deal with the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. That is their function and that Bill has been insulated from the mandarins of this House. For us to disagree with the Senate on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, we must raise a threshold of two-thirds majority. Hon. Speaker, time has come. We must also defend and insulate the Division of Revenue Bill from the chaos that we see in our country. The framers of the Constitution in Articles 218, 114 and 95(4), contemplated to insulate the Division of Revenue Bill. It must be a Bill that will be dealt with in the National Assembly and will not be subjected to the mandarins of mediation. The same Constitution protects the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. We have baked the cake and we have allocated money to the county governments. Kenyans are not being told the truth. They are only being told that Kshs310 billion has been allocated to the counties. The Division of Revenue Bill has allocated Kshs376 billion to the county governments. Outside the equitable share, the counties are being given Kshs8.9 billion by the Government through the Fuel Levy Fund. They are being given Kshs4.5 billion for Level 5 hospitals, Kshs900 million for the free maternity programme, Kshs2 billion for Technical Vocational Education and Training Institutions (TVETs); and, through the signature of the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, they will get Kshs38 billion from donors. We must tell Kenyans that the counties will not get Kshs310 billion but 376 billion. That is a fact. When the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury presented the Budget last year, he set a target of collection, which is necessary to allow the national Government and the county governments to provide services to the people. This must come out clearly. He was asking us to approve a list of the ingredients for the baking of the cake. Through the Budget Policy Statement, the Cabinet Secretary brings the ingredients to use to prepare this cake called the national Budget The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}