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{
    "id": 961966,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/961966/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 193,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "lawyers like yours truly here. We cannot let him go astray or act in ignorance of the law. Sen. (Dr.) Kabaka is a distinguished lawyer and a Member of the Committee. That notwithstanding, our Committee never sits without a lawyer in attendance from the Directorate of Legal Services just in case we, as seniors, may volunteer self-serving opinions, which is human. My thinking is that as a matter of quid pro quo, the desire to move this Bill is premature. As a matter of quid pro quo, we have a DoRA from this House in the National Assembly. The treatment that our Bill gets, begets the treatment their Bill gets in this House. That is called fairness. It is very important to acknowledge that we are senior, mature and reasonable. Reason does not mean that when we are stepped on, belittled, besmirched and abused, you simply say thank you and walk away. That is not an act of fairness. Mr. Deputy Speaker, sir, I urge you that before this Bill is ever going to be moved in this, we do not want as a House to air too much linen, never mind whether it is dirty or clean, in public. A Kamukunji was desirable and necessary for the Members to speak to this issue and make it very clear to our colleagues in the National Assembly that the Constitution writers which included you, the Deputy Speaker, and I were not foolish to create two Chambers of Parliament to co-exist and balance each other. It is for that reason that we have to send Messages to the National Assembly. I heard one Member of the National Assembly ignorantly saying that DoRA is a money Bill. The DoRA is not a money Bill. It is very clearly defined in the Constitution as such. The DoRA does not levy taxes or raise revenue. The DoRA simply divides revenue that is already collected. The DoRA moves from an advisory from the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you did not read Article 218 wide enough. Article 218(2)(C) states that when Parliament deviates from the advice of the CRA and if that diversion is significant, then they must give a detailed summary of the deviation. You do not just start shouting obscenities against a House of Parliament simply because you do not agree with it. There is a notion out there that we must make clear to this country. The national Government does not have money to give to county governments. Revenue is collected nationally from every Kenyan, put at the centre, then the CRA divides the revenue between the two levels of Government. The national Government obviously gets the lion’s share – we leave that to another day – while the counties get their share of the revenue. Where do we get the notion that the national Government is giving money to the counties? The national Government does not have money to give to anybody. It is the revenue collected from you, I and the people we represent. Once the revenue is divided, it is incumbent upon the two Houses; this House included, to approve the allocation and then we go to the appropriation."
}