Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 959141,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/959141/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 519,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13370,
        "legal_name": "Samson Ndindi Nyoro",
        "slug": "samson-ndindi-nyoro"
    },
    "content": "departments of our Government. It is alarming that even as we audit the Government in the PAC, there is a huge budget that we allocate to some of the functions that we call devolved. There is no way you can tell the people of Kenya that, for example, health is a devolved function and it is the role of county governments to offer these services whereas we leave a lot of the health budget to the national Government. If you look at a function like agriculture which is claimed to be with county governments, many questions that are asked by the wananchi are directed to governors. However, we also leave a lot of resources in that sector to the national Government. Another function is water. Going to mashinani, many households and voters demand for water from our county governments. If you look at where we place a lot of money in regard to water, it is in the national Government. My take has always been that we either fully devolve some of these functions or leave them to the national Government so that we can clearly see where to lay responsibility, either of performance or non-performance. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is also good to note that even in this duplication, if you go to a county like Murang’a or Nairobi, you will find that there is an officer serving in the department of agriculture or the irrigation sector yet we have equivalent officers employed by the national Government in the same capacities. I believe we need to align all these, so that we decrease or bring down the budget that we allocate to the recurrent expenditure on these officers. This will help us to unlock most of our resources to go and serve the people of Kenya. Even as I support this Bill, it is good to know, and I think it was referenced before by some of our colleagues, that we need to borrow from the NG-CDF model especially on devolution. As you know, from the money given to the NG-CDF, only 5 per cent goes to administration. Within it, we have the entire recurrent expenditure. Over 95 per cent of the money allocated through the NG-CDF goes into serving the people of Kenya especially through tangible development. You cannot compare the same with our county governments. It may not be their problem because some of them have inherited challenges. However, we need to take a drastic action to minimise the amount of money that goes to recurrent expenditure especially on salaries. The Bill before us is going to address some of the major issues that we currently have. When we have a stalemate between the National Assembly and the Senate, just as when we have a fight between two elephants, it is the grass that takes the beating. The people of Kenya, especially those who draw their salaries from the national Government become victims when there is such a stalemate. This Bill will unlock such stalemates so that when there is a disagreement, vital services and people’s livelihoods are not hurt. As I conclude, we also have to think about our roles. When I vied to be the Member of Parliament for Kiharu, I knew that I am coming here to represent the people of Kiharu, to make laws and to oversee. If we are the people who make laws on how to collect revenue and how to reach the supply side of our budget, it should also be our prerogative to determine the demand side of our budget. What I am talking about is the division of revenue. That is purely our role. Because there are many ways of interpreting our Constitution, I believe that this Bill, even as we fight about whose role it is, will protect the workers of county governments and people in the counties when it comes to offering vital services to them. With those many remarks, I support."
}