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{
    "id": 952767,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/952767/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 200,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Disbursement Schedule, the information in the public domain is that whether or not we pass it, it does not matter because it is deducted at source. It is really unfortunate. That is an illegality being perpetuating at the National Treasury. I ask our colleagues who have been nominated to work in the ad hoc Committee on leased medical equipment to expeditiously conclude that process. This is because this is a very grave issue. The issue that Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. raised on the conditional grants that are in Schedules 2 and 3, we are disbursing Kshs316.5 billion to our counties. Out of this amount, Kshs70 billion is almost 25 per cent which this House has no say on. If we do not have a say on conditional grants, we have already legislated ourselves out of 25 per cent of our work. We do not know what will happen next year. It might be Kshs100 billion or Kshs150. If we are not careful, we could only be allocating 20 or 30 per cent while the rest of the resources follow certain channels that are not clear to this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the list of their disbursement, they will say for this conditional grants, 21 counties are benefiting and they will list them for you. However, there is no Senator in this House who can tell you what are the exact conditions that a county has to meet to qualify for a grant. That is extremely dangerous. It was neither the intention of our Constitution nor the spirit of what this Senate stands for. This Senate must continue to pride itself as being the one House in this bi-cameral Parliament that believes in developing every part of Kenya equally. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the course of our deliberations today, we thought keenly about it. Once the national Government has collected revenue, it is left with the Cabinet Secretary of the National Treasury to handle it. Unfortunately, he is appointed by one of the beneficiaries of the two levels of Government. He works and reports to the national Government. Therefore, the county governments are disadvantaged. If it gets to a point where he has to use his professional digression to determine who he can fund first - he has the Ministry of Education requesting for funds and, on the other hand, county governments, I am sure he will first fund the Ministry. As they say, he who pays the piper plays the tune. We need to ask ourselves what the constitutional architecture of the two levels of government had in mind in terms of dividing resources and how it is disbursed. This House passing Kshs316.5 billion is okay, but the person who finally presses the key ‘X’ amount of money to go Siaya and ‘Y’ go to Elgeyo-Marakwet, he must be a gentleman that respects the Constitution. He must not be somebody who can be easily manipulated by either of the two levels of government. Finally, it is on the issue of the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development of submitting to the Senate reports on the status of implementation of the conditional grants on supplements for construction of county headquarters as provided for in the Third Schedule. This was a resolution of this House. After the Motion that was moved by the then Senator of Nyandarua Sen. (Eng.) Muriuki Karue, we learnt that there were counties without headquarter facilities. So, it was our intention that within four to five years, this exercise of building those headquarters should be concluded. I was teasing Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. earlier, about Tharaka Nithi County that has been allocated Kshs1 million. To me, it could be that they concluded constructing their headquarters and this Kshs1 million is only for paintworks or padlocks. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}