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{
"id": 1566222,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566222/?format=api",
"text_counter": 272,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Sen. Korir. We will now hear from Sen. M. Kajwang’."
},
{
"id": 1566223,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566223/?format=api",
"text_counter": 273,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to comment on the Division of Revenue Bill (National Assembly Bills No.10 of 2025), which is one of the most important functions of the Senate and us, as Senators. It is during this kind of debate that we determine what goes to county governments. Many people sometimes ask: what do these Senators do when they are in Nairobi? We are deciding what is going to county governments. When governors give out bursaries, launch roads and employ people, they do it courtesy of the Senate which approves certain estimates to go to the counties. I want to strongly oppose the proposal by the National Assembly to allocate county governments Kshs405 billion. A number of players have cited different figures. The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), the constitutional body that is mandated to advise Parliament on allocations to county governments and division of revenue between the two levels of government, had proposed a Kshs30 billion increment from the last financial year. The National Assembly has proposed a Kshs17 billion increment. Both positions by CRA, the National Assembly and National Treasury are untenable because of discretionary expenditure and a few other factors that I am going to highlight."
},
{
"id": 1566224,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566224/?format=api",
"text_counter": 274,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Senate has proposed Kshs465 billion to be allocated to county governments, a position that I fully support. The CoG has requested for Kshs536 billion. That perhaps The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566225,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566225/?format=api",
"text_counter": 275,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "could be the ideal situation, but I will go with the Senate position of Kshs465 billion, which closely aligns with what the ODM party and the UDA parties signed up for in the 10-point memorandum. The two parties agreed to protect and strengthen devolution, to increase funding to county governments and to protect devolution against claw back. In the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), it was proposed that counties should receive no less than Kshs450 billion. For those of us who recognize the Broad- Based Government, we can only acknowledge it if it delivers Kshs450 billion to county governments. Beyond politics, science, figures and economics will influence our decision as a House on how much goes to county governments. First, the Constitution requires that the basis for the division of revenue between national and county governments be the latest revenue estimates as audited and approved by the National Assembly. However, this Bill proposes using the financial year 2020/2021 as the base. That is wrong and unconstitutional. The Hon. Justice Jairus Ngaah made a landmark ruling in October last year, stating that when the Constitution specifies timelines, they are not optional or mere suggestions, but mandatory. Parliament must review, adopt, consider and debate audited reports within three months of their presentation. By now, the National Assembly should have already adopted the revenue estimates for financial year 2023/2024. It is, therefore, wrong for them to claim that the financial year 2020/2021 should be the basis. On that point alone, someone may challenge Parliament’s decision in court, arguing that it is unconstitutional to base revenue on estimates that are four years old. If the revenue share were based on the financial year 2023/2024, then it would be possible to yield to counties the Kshs465 billion proposed by the Senate. Secondly, county governments face non-discretionary expenditures, which arise from national Government policy. We had that conversation previously. CHPs represent an expenditure placed on county governments. The UHC staff who I believe are the ones picketing outside Parliament and doing so rightfully. I saw a headline stating, 'The nursesthat nobody needs .' This is a sick country. We cannot have a situation where nurses are deemed unnecessary. We cannot train and educate our nurses only to export them to Qatar or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while our own people remain sick. We must ensure that UHC workers are employed under proper and decent terms of service. Instead of spending time in the corridors and streets of Nairobi picketing, they should be dispensing and delivering healthcare to the sick in this nation. This will ensure the success of the Social Health Authority (SHA), the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), and other national government programmes. This can only be achieved if county governments are adequately financed. The UHC workers are concerned that transferring them to county governments will result in 47 different employers, each with their own management styles and unpredictable approaches. They seek certainty and a structured scheme of service that is predictable. This is why we must recall the Cabinet Secretary for Health to explain what the Human Resource Advisory Council under the Ministry of Health is doing to ensure The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566226,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566226/?format=api",
"text_counter": 276,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "consistency, transparency and synergy in the employment of health workers at both national and county governments. Health workers have long advocated for a national health commission. Hon. President William Ruto assured us that unveiling the Human Resource Advisory Council under the Ministry of Health would be a step toward improving their treatment. However, with the picketing on the streets, it signals yet another failure of this regime, which we must correct for this broad-based arrangement to succeed. Madam Temporary Speaker, county governments deserve Kshs465 billion because the functions allocated to them remain centralized in Nairobi. Many of us travel to Mombasa for conferences and are familiar with Nyali. One road that stands out is Links Road. Whenever it rains, a particular section is always flooded so severely that vehicles can become submerged. That road falls under the jurisdiction of the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA). The Governor of Mombasa is powerless to address it. Even the governor himself gets stuck in the same floods. The same situation applies to Nairobi City County. Roads flood, pavements become muddy and trenches pose risks to the safety and lives of Nairobi residents, yet the governor has no authority over them. We must return road functions to the counties. We must dismantle and restructure the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). If it is to remain in existence, it should be transformed into a parastatal or an entity governed by county governments. The funds allocated to road should be included in the Division of Revenue. We must also re-evaluate the mandate of the KURA. The urban roads that KURA manages should be clearly defined. There is no reason for KURA to be overseeing roads such as Bank Road in Homa Bay. When problems arise, they are nowhere to be found and yet the governor takes the blame. We must transfer health, water, agriculture, housing, trade and market services to counties and fund them appropriately. If we remain faithful to the Constitution and fully devolve these functions, then counties deserve not just Kshs465 billion, but the Kshs536.8 billion that the CoG has been advocating for. Madam Temporary Speaker, even as we push for more funds to go to counties, we must call out some of the bad practices observed in county governments. Just this week, a county appeared before the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC). It is a relatively small county by population. It has 10 elected Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) and because of this, the law has capped the number of County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) at six. When you add the county secretary, the county attorney, the deputy governor and the governor, the total reaches 10. The law imposes this cap based on the county’s small size, reasoning that six CECMs can efficiently manage it. However, what does the governor do? He appoints 36 advisors on all kinds of matters, including the Equalisation Fund and cohesion, as well as on issues one would expect the governor to understand before assuming office. To make matters worse, a county with only six CECMs has 31 chief officers. On average, each CECM has five accounting officers under them. That was not the intention of devolution. Devolution was not supposed to fund bureaucracy; it was supposed to fund development. That is why I put it out there that 47 county governments as the apex of devolution is a bad idea. I never proposed the removal The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566227,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566227/?format=api",
"text_counter": 277,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "of counties. In the original proposal, which perhaps was the real people's proposal, we proposed to have bigger regional tiers where planning, coordination and legislation could be exercised. However, implementation of development could be done at the county, ward and village levels. My proposal in no way takes away the county tier. However, I would like to see a situation where we deal with this kind of nonsense, where a 10-Member Assembly is dealing with 36 advisors and 31 chief officers. That mess is replicated across counties. Governors must prove to us that they are responsible and prudent and will stop wastage. We went to Uasin Gishu County over the weekend. We found projects worth close to Kshs2 billion stalled, despite almost 60 per cent of the funds having been committed. A hospital should be a place where there are drugs, doctors and services. It does not matter, it could be a tent. There is no reason for a county to spend Kshs600 million on brick and mortar and call it a hospital. Yet there are no doctors, medication, vaccines, or even snake antvenom. Governors must convince us that they will be more prudent. Madam Temporary Speaker, governors must convince us that they will tame their appetite for corruption. I have seen a few governors taken to court. Having looked at the reports of the Auditor-General, even some of the amounts that are being put on the governor’s heads is just like spare change, when you look at some of the things that the Auditor-General is reporting. I was happy, I saw last weekend the Catholic Church, I believe was running a campaign of having triple-deckers in Kenyan cells. It is a very good idea because we will need triple-deckers in cells if we are serious about corruption. We will need to have many more governors, over and above the two or three that we have seen. Governors must convince us that they have the interests of the people at heart and it is not just the interest of their stomach. Governors must convince us that their revenue collection systems do not have backdoors which have some algorithms that divert money into their accounts. We will stand with a higher allocation to county governments, not because this is money going to governors, this is money going to the people living in counties and constituencies. I want to encourage the National Assembly that we should never look at this thing as a county versus national Government thing. The people benefiting from these resources, the Kshs465 billion that we have proposed, reside in those constituencies and wards. They are members of this country called Kenya. The national Government should not have a problem if county governments then become the theatre of implementation for the Kshs465 billion, unless there are other interests that they are looking at, by holding some of these resources upwards. However, governors must convince the nation that that they will take measures against the 20 per cent that I reported to this House that has been lost through corruption and wastage, in the fiduciary risk report that I brought here on 27th of March. Governors will come and go, but the people in the counties will remain. Let us legislate for our people. Let us not legislate for the leadership. I strongly oppose the Kshs405 billion proposal and support the Senate's position to grant counties Kshs460 billion, which is consistent with our agreement as a broad-based Government arrangement. I thank you. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566228,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566228/?format=api",
"text_counter": 278,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Sen. M. Kajwang’. Proceed, Sen. Paul Thang’wa Karungo."
},
{
"id": 1566229,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566229/?format=api",
"text_counter": 279,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity for Kiambu to also speak on the issue of the Division of Revenue Bill, 2025. I equally oppose the Kshs405 billion that the National Assembly is proposing that we take to the counties for the financial year 2025/2026. If I can refer you to Clause 8 of the Bill, they are talking about Kshs405 billion, which they are boasting to be 25.8 per cent more from the previous year. However, they are basing it on the last audited and approved actual revenue raised nationally for the financial year 2020/2021. We are in the year 2025, but they are basing this allocation to the year before the current governors got into Government. They have raised taxes, and collected more money, yet they are basing their allocation based on the Financial Year 2021/2022 before the Kenya-Kwanza administration took over. You can see, they have a sinister motion within the whole process. We have talked about raising this money to over Kshs460 billion. I am a maths person. I can help them do the maths where this money is going to come from, so that they can give counties Kshs460 billion for the Financial Year 2025/2026. One, there is this allocation of county aggregation and industrial parks, where the national Government holds about Kshs250 million per county. If you do the math, that is Kshs11.7 billion. Hence, you add it to Kshs4billion or Kshs5billion. There is a lot of money for bursaries that the national Government receives from the counties. They give the counties, then the counties give back through bursaries to national Government institutions. The national Government is actually taking the same amount of money through back doors. However, if you put this money together, so that counties are cushioned from the monies that they give as bursaries, they will get Kshs500 million per county. That is about Kshs23.5 billion."
},
{
"id": 1566230,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566230/?format=api",
"text_counter": 280,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Lastly, Madam Temporary Speaker, the national Government is encroaching on county functions. One of them are markets. Every constituency receives Kshs50 million for building markets. If you multiply Kshs50 million by 290, you will get Kshs14.5 billion. If you take Kshs14.5 billion for markets that the national Government is holding, add Kshs11.5 billion being held by the national Government for CAIPs and then add Kshs23.5 billion, which is money that the national Government gives to counties as bursary, you will get Kshs49.7 billion. Add Kshs49.7 billion to the proposed Kshs405 billion and you will get Kshs554 billion. At least I have helped them to see where they will get the money. So, we are short of Kshs6 billion only. If there was time, I would have given you enough information. Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to ask ourselves a question as the Senate. We are letting the national Government encroach on county functions like building of markets. Today, my people of Kamwangi Market in Gatundu North are crying. The reason is that overnight, the national Government demolished a market that was built by the county government. The market was functional and people were okay with it. They did so in order to build another market. What is the rationale for the national Government to bring down a whole market? The people did not want a new market because they were okay with what they had. However, since somebody had taken a kickback from the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1566231,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566231/?format=api",
"text_counter": 281,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "contractor, they wanted the market built, whether through force or what, so that they retain the contract and get the same amount of commission. My people of Kamwangi Market in Gatundu North are crying because of the national Government encroaching on county functions, they have lost a market. Now they have to wait for many months without a market, yet they had a market that was functioning. That market was built between 2013 and 2017 by the then governor when I was a MCA. I would like to tell the national Government---"
}
]
}