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{
    "id": 935030,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/935030/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 50,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipkelion East, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Joseph Limo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1915,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Kirui Limo",
        "slug": "joseph-kirui-limo"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Chairman. I rise to contribute to this important Bill. I did not get a chance to contribute the day this Bill was moved. I wish I had given the views of the Committee together with what we got from public participation. It is a timely Bill. It was brought to our Committee having been published on 18th June, 2019 and tabled in the House on Wednesday 3rd July, 2019. Subsequently, the Bill was advertised in the print media on Thursday 18th July, 2019. Pursuant to Article 118 of the Constitution, the public was invited to give their views as required by the Constitution. By the end of the period, we received three memoranda from three stakeholders namely, the National Treasury, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the Office of the Attorney-General and the Department of Justice. This Equalisation Fund Board is designed to operationalise the Equalisation Fund as established by Article 204 of the Constitution that clearly states that one half of the revenue collected by the national Government each year, shall be calculated on the basis of the most recent audited accounts of the revenue received as approved by the National Assembly. The Fund is meant to provide basic services such as water, roads, health facilities and electricity to the marginalised areas as identified by the CRA as per the marginalisation policy in place at any time. Currently, this Fund is administered through the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act under a framework called the Public Finance Management Equalisation Fund Guidelines 2015. This Bill is designed to address certain weaknesses which are inherent in the current guidelines. Currently, this Fund is administered by the National Treasury without much involvement of the local communities which are designed to benefit from it. This is seen to be going against what the Constitution requires that there should be clear public participation even in implementing projects under the county governments as well as projects that are funded under NG-CDF. These projects are done by conducting public participation in various communities where the Fund is designed to be used. Currently, you will find the Fund being administered by a committee which is made up of PSs from various ministries. It has been difficult to identify which communities have benefitted directly. Therefore, the Equalisation Fund Bill seeks to operationalise this Fund as per the Constitution and it is proposing to establish a board to administer the Fund which is both at the national level and the local level. It is, in a way, borrowing from the NG-CDF, which is administered both at the board level in Nairobi and at the constituency level. The Bill proposes a ward as the basis for forming local committees. During public participation, we came up with a proposal which we will be moving at the Third Reading to make constituencies the centres of local committees. 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."
}