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{
    "id": 986921,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/986921/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung'wah",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1835,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
        "slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
    },
    "content": "Government to be able to perform these tasks, to avoid a protracted mediation process that may well go into the better part of the year. You remember last year but one we had a mediated version of the Division of Revenue Bill and it took us close to November to even agree on the final figures of the shareable revenue. In the present case, the National Assembly wanted the requisite resources needed to fund the transferred functions to be explicitly retained in the Consolidated Fund to satisfy the provisions of Article 187. Alternatively, the Senate wants funds to be transferred to Nairobi City County as usual, but does not address the sticky issue of how the resources will be transferred from the Nairobi County Revenue Fund to the national Government. It is in view of this that the Committee recommends that required funds transfer arrangement can expeditiously be sought administratively or legally to ensure that all resources needed for the transferred functions from the Nairobi City County to the national Government are indeed available. The Committee recommends that this House concurs with the amendments by the Senate and, therefore, accept revision of the Schedule as well as the substitution therefore the new Schedule as proposed. I beg to move, but also note that at the time the National Assembly was initiating and approving the Division of Revenue Bill for FY 2020/2021, even the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) had not been established. Even in our engagements as a Committee with the National Treasury and other stakeholders, it was still not clear at that time how the transferred functions would be catered for. Therefore, we acted based on what is provided for by the Constitution in Article 187. We have acted in the best interest of the county governments, and to ensure that the people of Nairobi continue receiving services, especially at this time of crisis. You remember some of those functions relate to healthcare, water provision and infrastructure development. To ensure that there is seamless flow of resources back to the national Government, I want to encourage both the national Government and the Nairobi City County Government to engage meaningfully and get an administrative or legal way within which they may transfer resources. It is just a question of sitting down and agreeing on what needs to be done and what amount of resources ought to come back to the national Government to allow the people of the great City of Nairobi to benefit from the same this year. Finally, we must appreciate that at the time we passed this Division of Revenue Bill, the first case of COVID-19 had not been reported in this country. We are now dealing with very extraordinary times. Were it possible at this time, I would even have pleaded that we further amend the Schedule to reduce the shareable revenue that is due to the county governments. But again in the interest of avoiding protracted battles with the Senate, that can wait. I would like to appeal to all our county governments: I have seen very few of them initiating Supplementary Appropriations Bills on the revenue they have been allocated in the FY 2019/2020, to ensure that more resources go to water for cleaning hands and towards provision of PPEs for healthcare workers in the counties. The county governments should dedicate more resources to healthcare and water departments. However, I would like to appeal to all our county governments. I have seen very few of them initiating Supplementary Appropriations Bills on the revenues they have been given for the Financial Year 2019/2020 to ensure that more resources go towards water for cleaning our hands, and provision of PPEs for healthcare workers in the counties. They, therefore, need to The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}