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{
    "id": 958258,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/958258/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 181,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Garissa Township, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Aden Duale",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Kenyans must ask themselves which roads are maintained by the county governments based on the Kshs8.9 billion we are allocating. Which road is done by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KURA) or Members of Parliament through the Kenya Rural Roads Authority Fund. So, there is a lot of overlapping and Kenyans must get value for their money. We cannot allocate Kshs.378 billion, as Hon. Mbadi has said, to devolution which is becoming very unpopular in our country. Many people including myself voted for the 2010 Constitution because of it. We need to go back to the Bomas, have a national conversation and ask ourselves the achievements and gains of devolution. There are people out there who say that we are killing devolution. Budget is time bound and this is reflected in the Constitution in all its Articles concerning the budget-making process. Timelines are created when the Budget Policy Statement is supposed to be introduced, when the Committee is supposed to table its Report, when the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure are to be brought to the House, when to expect the Cabinet Secretary to read the budget highlights and when to deal with the Finance Bill or the Division of Revenue Bill. These timelines are well documented in the Constitution and the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act of 2012. These timelines are well documented in the Constitution and in the Public Finance Management Act of 2012. Article 219 of the Constitution provides that the Division of Revenue Bill will be introduced in Parliament, at least two months before the end of every financial year. It is very critical. It says two months. So, the Senate or the National Assembly cannot have the luxury to play around. Why do I say so? Today is 12th September 2019. The first quarter of this financial year is almost over and we are still discussing the Division of Revenue Bill. We are yet to conclude and even discuss the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. The Public Finance Management Act needs to be reviewed so that all these timelines which are provided for on the budget-making process are taken into consideration so that no House, individual, entity or agency in Government or in Parliament can play around with the budgetary timelines provided for in the Constitution. Let me go to Article 201 that clearly defines what “equity” means when it comes to public resources. There must be equity. National resources are not kept somewhere that anybody can take. Equity is a key principle in this Constitution and even under Article 10 on national values. That is why the President is supposed to address the nation once every year. One of the things he needs to address is whether his Government has fulfilled the national values as enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution. There has to be equity in the manner in which we raise resources and the manner in which we distribute them along the three arms of Government, agencies and independent commissions. When it comes to sharing of resources, consideration should be given to how much we have raised, how much we will borrow and if it will affect the citizens of our country. That is why the Senate asked for an addition of over Kshs6.5 billion when we asked for an increase of Kshs6.9 billion. This is because the figure was Kshs310 billion. Now we have added Kshs6.5 billion. Having added that amount, at some point we must ask ourselves how we will get the Kshs6.5 billion that was added. Is it through more taxes to the people of Kenya? Is it through 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."
}