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{
"id": 999288,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/999288/?format=api",
"text_counter": 637,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Ochillo-Ayako",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 347,
"legal_name": "Ochilo George Mbogo Ayacko",
"slug": "ochilo-ayacko"
},
"content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to laud my sister for raising this very pertinent issue. The reason these funds are being shared out is not that they are funds that are to be shared out; it is an emergency. These are extraordinary times. During an emergency, you look at the vulnerability and prevalence in areas where this pandemic is. You do not share it as if you are doing things normally. If you look at the sharing that is going on right now, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) has been given the mandate to share it out. They are basing their sharing on a formula that does not take cognisance of the fact that we are under extraordinary times. I am a representative of Migori County. The porosity along the border of Migori is only comparable to Busia, Kajiado, Taita-Taveta, Kwale, Mandera and other places. As I speak, Migori is getting infections from Tanzania, the same way infections are getting into Kenya through Busia. However, when you look at the sharing of this grant that is supposed to help us fight COVID-19, the formula that has been used is that of the CRA. Why then are we sharing – and this should be answered by the Committee – the grant that is available based on the normal formula without taking cognisance of the fact that certain border counties are more prone to, more exposed and more likely to introduce and continue introducing this virus into the nation? Madam Deputy Speaker, if we behave as if Kajiado, Migori, Busia, Mandera and the coastal counties do not matter, we are not safe even here in Nairobi. This infection of COVID-19 will enter into Kenya through Kajiado and travel to Nairobi, the same way that people thought that China is very far. Madam Deputy Speaker, I want the responsible Committee to find out from the CS whether his rhetoric about extraordinary times was part of the consideration when this money was being shared. I want this Committee to specifically tell the people of Migori, Kajiado, Busia, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Mandera, Lamu, and other frontier counties, whether there are additional funds that are called Emergency Funds, because this is just a normal health allocation based on the general formula that is being used. Lastly, because these are extraordinary times, I want the Committee to specifically tell us what measures they have put in place to ensure that these funds will not go into waste, misuse or to poor governance, because that is also another threat that we need to deal with very urgently. I want to take this opportunity to thank Sen. Pareno for thinking about frontier counties, including Migori, Kajiado and other counties. I thank you."
}