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{
    "id": 927710,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/927710/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Nuh",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2840,
        "legal_name": "Junet Sheikh Nuh",
        "slug": "junet-sheikh-nuh"
    },
    "content": "It is for a fact that the Division of Revenue Bill is a Money Bill, under Article 109. What we intend to seek from you is where this Bill should originate from. I said that it is for a fact that this Division of Revenue Bill is a Money Bill. We seek your guidance on where this Bill should originate from. We have two Bills as we speak today. One is from the National Assembly and another from the Senate. In my view, what the Senate is inviting Parliament to is a fatal head-on collision of two Bills. Unless it is arrested at the earliest opportunity, we might have a fatal head- on collision in this House. You should not allow that to happen as a man who has sworn to defend, protect and uphold the Constitution when you took the oath of office as the Speaker of the House. I do not want to belabour the point of constitutional issues that have been brought about by my colleagues. It is in Article 94 where there is an express provision that it is this House that divides the revenue between the two levels of government. I do not want to belabour the point of Article 218 which says that, after two months, the Division of Revenue Bill must originate from this House and the County Allocation of Revenue Bill must come from the Senate. It is not good if we go the way the Senate has gone, to originate a Bill which they do not have any jurisdiction over. We can also originate the County Allocation of Revenue Bill amongst counties. I can guarantee you I am intending to do that. Once I do it, I will give a lot of money to my Migori County. That county might receive a third of the whole allocation because it will be my right to do so. That is what the Senate has done on the other Bill. This is a serious matter that we cannot take for granted. Laws are made here for posterity. I remember in the 11th Parliament, the issue of the Division of Revenue Bill came up. As a House, we resolved this is a matter within the domain of the National Assembly, but our colleagues in the Senate decided to go and seek an opinion from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave an opinion that this Bill must be taken to the other House. The Supreme Court failed to tell us what we do when we have a stalemate as the situation is today. They should have gone further and said the Bill should go to the Senate. We know mediation has been provided in the Constitution. When mediation fails, either the National Assembly or the Senate will have the upper hand. They should have decided. That is where they fell short. That tells you how the opinion was not well thought out, if I have to criticise it. Criticisms of judgements and opinions are allowed. The opinion fell short of the expectations of the Kenyan people. This is the situation they found themselves in. If you seek my opinion as a Member of this House, now that the opinion of the Supreme Court did not cover eventualities after a stalemate, I think this House should pass the Division of Revenue Bill and send it to the President to assent to it so that counties can continue operating until when the Supreme Court will expand their opinion, as it were. After all, it is an opinion on how we should handle stalemates. I can guarantee you that the Supreme Court has no mandate to allocate figures. They cannot give you Kshs300 billion. They cannot give you Kshs1 billion because even the money they operate on is allocated from this House. This is a matter on which you must pronounce yourself, not because of today that we have two Bills. It is because of posterity. Devolution is here to stay for long. It is not going to end with the 12th Parliament. Devolution is going to be there until the Constitution is amended. I do not foresee any Kenyan who is interested in amending the Constitution to get rid of devolution. For that reason, we must get clarity on where this Division of Revenue Bill and County Allocation of Revenue Bill can originate from. Once we set that parameter, we can discuss the rest. I was listening to the advocate of the Council of Governors two days ago when he was presenting his case. He categorically told the Supreme Court that the Senate has no 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."
}