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{
"id": 1527192,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527192/?format=api",
"text_counter": 342,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to support the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill which is important. As it has been pointed out earlier, this Bill came into this House and we passed it with amendments. It was taken to Senate, but they did not agree with us. It was subjected to mediation which did not result in any positive fruits. Therefore, it expired because there was no agreement at the mediation stage. Therefore, this Bill has come a bit late in the financial year. We only have another three months to the end of it. Therefore, the faster we process this Bill, the better for this country, so that funds can be taken to the counties or grassroots. The projects that are envisaged are supposed to be implemented. Having said that, I have gone through the schedule. Counties need to get out there and inform the public that they receive money from the national Government, the equitable share. They also receive money under conditional grants and unconditional grants. Most counties do not exercise the public financial management principle of transparency to the public. They insist that the only money they receive from the national Government is from the divisional share. They insist that they receive equitable share of specific billions, but they do not tell the public that many of the projects that they see are funded by the conditional and unconditional grants. A quick summary, I might say: I just picked three or four counties receiving money under the Bill. I have seen that Nakuru County will receive Ksh1.5 billion as conditional grants. That is additional revenue. Nyamira County will receive a total of Ksh410 million and Tharaka- Nithi County a total of Ksh593 million. Taita/Taveta County, where I come from, will receive Ksh1.3 billion in additional revenue. That is a substantial amount of money. That said, it is exciting that Parliament is appropriating this money back to counties to touch very specific areas that have perennially been troublesome. We are also giving conditional grants to pay the CHPs that have had long outstanding issues with counties. We know that the national Government has been trying very hard to pay their part of the bargain, the Ksh2,500 per CHP. However, many county governments have not been paying their part. 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."
},
{
"id": 1527193,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527193/?format=api",
"text_counter": 343,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Today, wherever all CHPs are in this country, they need to know that the National Assembly has already done its part. We are allocating money to pay CHPs. There should be no excuse for not paying them. County governments should ensure they pay them in good time. The other money factored in this Bill is going to pay arrears on basic salaries for health workers. We know that some health workers are on strike. The money we are appropriating and passing today will also go into paying arrears on basic salaries of the health workers. Allow me to also speak a little about monies allocated to Taita/Taveta County whose one constituency I represent in this House. I am excited to see that we are appropriating a whopping Khs850 million towards water and sanitation development in the County of Taita/Taveta. I am excited about this and it is one of the reasons I am supporting the Bill. We have very many issues around water and sanitation in my county. I am excited as I sit here today to look at the Bill allocating Ksh850 million to Taita/Taveta. If used prudently, I know this money will sort out the perennial water shortage issues in our county. In addition, we are appropriating money to the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Programme (NAVCDP). The World Bank funds that new programme. The project is critical to agriculture-based counties. It is critical to see our people supported in their subsistence farming. I see that we are appropriating Ksh151 million for NAVCDP in Taita/Taveta County. Counties have been running up and down trying to get money for programmes that are not devolved. All programmes to which this Bill is allocating money are devolved. Counties need to prioritise the programmes even with their equitable share. You will wonder to realise that counties have been fighting this National Assembly over the RMLF instead of putting their best foot forward to ensure value for the money we allocate them. They are struggling for Fuel Levy from which they will get very little money. For instance, the county I hail from will get about Ksh150 million. Counties are fighting Members of Parliament and the national Government to get little money compared even to the money we are giving them as conditional grants. Why is a county receiving Ksh1 billion in conditional grants or Ksh7 to Ksh10 billion in equitable share so sticky towards little money like the Fuel Levy? That is a small fraction compared to the monies they receive! It is a pity that much of the money the National Assembly appropriates to counties is misappropriated, wasted, or stolen. We will see this country develop if we deal with the theft, graft, and mismanagement of our funds in counties and ensure that those who pilfer public finances are taken to court and charged. Then, the 5 per cent GDP growth that our country is always proud of can easily rise to two digits of economic growth. We call upon our Governors across the country to exercise prudent use of resources as we support this Bill. They must call their staff who are stealing to order. I want to believe that the governors are not stealing. Their days are numbered if they are. We must call them to order. I can tell you that governors are surrounded by people who are stealing more than the governors are. They are building maisonettes, buying apartments, and doing so much across the country. Sometimes you wonder whether governors have eyes or they are part and parcel of that kind of theft of public resources. As we do all this and oversee the national Government, it is important and a must that the Senate does its work. Many times, Senators wake up and start bashing Members of the National Assembly on very flimsy reasons. We will have a problem if the Senate does not wake up and do oversight to curb the pilferage in counties in a manner that this country will find the value of the Senate. They call themselves an upper House. There is no way... They are only overseeing Ksh480 billion or Ksh400 billion in division of revenue yet much of that money is lost. This National Assembly is overseeing over Ksh2 trillion. If you look at the Ksh400 billion Senate oversights versus the Khs2.5 trillion, then, of course, the National Assembly should be the upper House. However, I do not want to get to that debate. Senate must do its job. It should stop assuming the role of the National Assembly by inviting Cabinet Secretaries. Senators are doing public relations. 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."
},
{
"id": 1527194,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527194/?format=api",
"text_counter": 344,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Senate of this country has been inviting Cabinet Secretaries and trying to ask very hard questions yet Senators know all they are doing is playing to the public gallery. Nothing comes out of that. Their work is to deal with governors and county governments. They should do their job well so that mwananchi in every corner of this country can see the fruits of devolution. Time is not on my side. I want to end by saying that the National Assembly will do its part. I call upon the Senate to do its job of overseeing governors and county government so that we can find value. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1527195,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527195/?format=api",
"text_counter": 345,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": " Hon. Andrew Okuome, the Member of Parliament for Karachuonyo."
},
{
"id": 1527196,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527196/?format=api",
"text_counter": 346,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Karachuonyo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Adipo Okuome",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you for this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. First, I support the Bill. My support is with some questions and concerns that I would like governors to address. I know they are doing a good job for us. Devolution is excellent and the whole country supported it. However, I must say to our Governors that we are yet to see the expected impact. For example, in hospitals, you often hear about strikes, health workers laid off, some are not paid and so forth. This is the case and yet there is no time they have not got their shareable revenue. They get that all the time. Something is amiss with their management. Kenya is an agricultural country and has been so for ages. I hoped that with devolution we would see this in reality, but we have not. Counties are not doing the expectations we have on agriculture. If governors were doing their job as expected, no one among us or even out there, the people of Kenya, would criticise them. They are causing the criticism we hear now and again. They have major sources of revenue, the shareable ones and their self-revenue. I know they have some grants – let me not go to those. What we hear all the time is that we have huge and growing pending bills. I would have liked an analyst to tell us the amount of revenue collected in counties compared to what the old county councils were collecting. Which one is higher? If what they are collecting is less, and I am told it is, then we remain with a very strong question that county governors must answer. As of now, they are governments. Those, were just councils. They cannot compare themselves to a council. That also leaves a big question, and something must be wrong. Perhaps, money is collected but it does not reach the county treasuries. Or it may be that it reaches the county treasuries, but does not perform the duties it is collected for. Counties have two types of expenditures – development and recurrent. If you look at the records, recurrent expenditure is extremely high. Though it is supposed to be not more than 70 per cent, it is quite high compared to development expenditure. Development expenditure should be in the region of 30 per cent but from what we have been seeing, a number of counties reach nothing near it. It is development expenditure that leaves the trail of what the country gains. A country spending more on development expenditure gains in development. If you are heavy on recurrent expenditure, you are like somebody who gets a salary and eats it all. In the end, he has nothing to remind him that he had some money or earned some income because there is nothing it did. Recurrent expenditure does not leave a trail. There are a lot of inadequacies at the county level. They need to pull up. As I speak, I am not sure counties can tell us what they have achieved in a manner we, the Members of Parliament, can say we have done with the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF). The money we have got for NG-CDF is used in such a manner that all the time, even without you as a Member of Parliament being there, whatever you do is conspicuous. People see it and can explain the benefits they get from NG-CDF. I am not sure whether people can also take it upon themselves to explain what devolution is doing. 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."
},
{
"id": 1527197,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527197/?format=api",
"text_counter": 347,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Karachuonyo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Adipo Okuome",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Devolution is a wonderful structure but governors are making it just one of those institutions with very little impact and yet, what we want is a big impact. I know our governors can use this money in such a manner that even after five years we can say, yes, there is a change devolution has brought for us. We are giving a good example, as I have just said, of the impact of what we do as Members of Parliament on what is given to us. I challenge the governors to use that example so that Kenya can develop. Thanks for giving me the time to contribute."
},
{
"id": 1527198,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527198/?format=api",
"text_counter": 348,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": " Hon. Andrew Okuome, you sit on the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning?"
},
{
"id": 1527199,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527199/?format=api",
"text_counter": 349,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Karachuonyo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Adipo Okuome",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Yes."
},
{
"id": 1527200,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527200/?format=api",
"text_counter": 350,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": " I thought in terms of Clause 6 here, you needed first and foremost, to provide that Kenya Revenue Authority shall establish revenue collection systems for all counties before you say, it may be a collecting agent for the counties. For purposes of collection, we have a single system across the country determining the amount to be collected, what items are taxable and to what extent; this is so that the money being collected down there, does not go into people's drawers but comes to the National Treasury to be divided later. What do you think about that?"
},
{
"id": 1527201,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527201/?format=api",
"text_counter": 351,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Karachuonyo, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Adipo Okuome",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Well, I would support it because I see it as a big improvement on what is currently going on. The system should be implemented from the very first step, that is the person collecting the money."
}
]
}