{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=152762","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=152760","results":[{"id":1545802,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545802/?format=json","text_counter":107,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Omogeni","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13219,"legal_name":"Erick Okong'o Mogeni","slug":"erick-okongo-mogeni"},"content":"Finally, on the money for the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF), how I wish we could ring fence it to do tarmac roads in our counties. If we are giving this money to our counties to go and do murram roads, we are just giving them money to eat. Sen. Sigei, in Bomet, you send this money to your governor, tomorrow you will see him wearing a suit worth Kshs200,000 from the money you have sent him. They will tarmac a road that was already tarmacked by the Member of Parliament (MP)."},{"id":1545803,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545803/?format=json","text_counter":108,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Omogeni","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13219,"legal_name":"Erick Okong'o Mogeni","slug":"erick-okongo-mogeni"},"content":"So, if we need to transform our counties, let us ring-fence and condition this money. Even if you do two kilometres, it is okay. Let us even do five kilometres in a financial year. In five years, we will have done 25 kilometres. That will be transformative. I thank the Chairperson for the good work done. However, the job is also cut out for us, as Senators, in our oversight role. We must follow this money down to the grassroots and ensure that we get a detailed report on how it is being spent, who the recipients and beneficiaries are. All the community groups that have received the money, let us have a schedule from each constituency, so that the governors will know that the Senators of the Republic of Kenya are watching. I support, Mr. Deputy Speaker."},{"id":1545804,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545804/?format=json","text_counter":109,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Kathuri","speaker_title":"The Deputy Speaker","speaker":{"id":13590,"legal_name":"Murungi Kathuri","slug":"murungi-kathuri"},"content":" Sen. Wakili Sigei?"},{"id":1545805,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545805/?format=json","text_counter":110,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this important Bill. It is important because this House has been recalled from recess to come and deal with this critical Bill. It is the one which sorts out what my colleague Sen. Omogeni has said money that will go to the counties. How I wish that once this Bill is voted for and passed, the money is utilized for the intended purposes. It is a crucial Bill because besides us asking for the money to be released to the counties in good time, we are also called upon as the Senate, to ensure that once the money is released, it is put into good use. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to appreciate and commend the Committee that has burnt the midnight oil to make sure that this report gets here, the Bill is availed before the House for debate and finally approval and voting. However, the biggest and the greatest challenge is the fact that we have had to be recalled from recess because of the delays which have been occasioned by the sibling rivalry between this particular House and the National Assembly. Nonetheless, we are here and the committee has done a commendable job. I wish to make just a few comments, particularly with regard to the fact that we are dealing with this Bill because we want our respective counties to get additional allocation. It is, in fact, reflected in the objectives of the Bill that this Bill seeks to allocate supplementary or, rather, additional resources to our various county governments and define respective responsibilities, particularly with the respective county governments on the allocated resources. Once these resources are released to the county governments, we expect some level of efficiency and effectiveness in the utilization of the resources. The most unfortunate thing is that as we fight for additional allocations to our respective county governments, once the monies get there, they are misappropriated in very many ways. 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":1545806,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545806/?format=json","text_counter":111,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Time and again we had our governors appearing before the various committees. The experiences that we get and see from not only their presentation but even the documentations that come from their offices, together with the documentation that the committees in this House are utilizing courtesy of the office of the Auditor-General, are so wanting and with glaring misappropriation and corruption. How I wish that even as we push for these resources, we do not send the resources and as we have always said, have the devolved corruption use the money for otherwise unintended purposes. I want to speak to the specific provisions of the Bill running from the clauses. Under Clause 4, which deals with the First Schedule of the Bill, this is where we have provided for additional allocations, which will consist of various funds and these funds are the funds which, as I have said, has been occasioned because of the delays in between the National Assembly and the Senate. The additional funds are pursuant to the provisions of Articles 201 and 202 of the Constitution. We are supporting all our county governments to get additional funding. In this case, each county government will get additional allocation from the national share and this particular fund will be expected to be utilized for the purpose that it has. Under Clause 5 where it gives us the various streams of these additional conditional and unconditional allocations, we have got the one which I will want to speak specifically to, the ones which are relevant to the county that I represent, the County Government of Bomet, where on the one hand we do not have of course under Column B allocations for purposes of construction of the county headquarters. Colleagues here have talked about funds that are allocated for County Aggregated Industrial Parks (CAIPs) in various counties. This is one allocation in which, out of the 47 counties, 19 have so far benefited. This particular allocation, which is reflected under Clause 5 will be expected to be utilized for good use. It was in the course of this particular allocation that I expected our respective counties to also avail in their budget the additional Kshs250 million. I am aware that in Bomet County, this ought to have happened in the previous financial year so that even though it is not among the 19 that have already benefited and those which will benefit from the passage of this Bill, the allocation at the county level from the previous funds ought to have been utilized. Unfortunately, because of what we have called the devolved corruption, the allocation of Kshs50 million that had been put by the County Assembly for this purpose has already been reallocated elsewhere because of the interest that the leadership at the county level has utilized. This particular Bill will make sure that the 19 counties that are expected to benefit will benefit. We look forward to making sure that once this Kshs250 million is disbursed, those counties are to use that money to develop the industrial parks, support the locals, support the people of the respective counties, to get jobs and to add value to their produce from those industrial parks. The most important - and this is the one that all of us as Members of this House support to the last coin - is with regards to the conditional allocation for Community Health Promoters (CHPs). In this case, this is one of the most critical supports that we 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":1545807,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545807/?format=json","text_counter":112,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"needed to do to help those who are in the first line of defense in our health facilities within our villages. These are the teams that for the last over two years in the County Government of Bomet, have never gotten any payment from the county government. This allocation will ensure that at least this team gets appreciation for the work they are doing, supports the community and continues also to be motivated so that even though the allocation might not be sufficient enough to pay them for the work they are doing, they are appreciated and they will be able to continue. There is still the challenge of kitting. In most places, some of these community health promoters do not have kits. They risk their lives they risk their health in the process of supporting the communities that they come from and in this case, in most cases, in most counties, without any money that has been paid to them. This particular Bill will ensure that these monies get to support them and ensure that we enhance the support of the health sector, which under the Constitution is a devolved function. The conditional allocation for purposes of basic salary arrears for county governments also under the same clause is very critical. Most, if not all, county governments have arrears in almost all the sectors of their employees. It is not only with regards to the health sector, but in this case, the health workers’ allocation, which is a conditional one in this case, is welcome. I look forward to these monies being disbursed so that those who are in our health facilities, whether they have arrears or not, are equally promoted to ensure that they continue supporting the health sector and the communities that they come from. Clause 6 of this particular Bill, provides that the Cabinet Secretary is expected at every 15th day of the month to publish the transfers. In this case, it is expected that once this publication is done, we are able, as a House, to track and ensure that we can follow on the level of transparency and accountability. These regular monthly updates which are required by this particular bill is to help us to get to know how much has been disbursed to this particular county, who among those who are in charge of those counties have responded by ensuring that they do an update of publication and in this case, having them in the Kenya Gazette will ensure the transparency that we have. The experience that we have had for the last financial year is that the disbursements have been done in good time, but we do not get the publications and the gazettement in good time to enable us to track them. If this was done, then the allegations that we get across the board from among the governors that there are delays in disbursements would not become an issue. We will thereafter be able to follow and ensure that the funds that have been disbursed are put to good use. As well as the CECs from the relevant counties sharing with the public on those disbursements. Clause 8 speaks to the concerns that we have. Allow me to make comments on schedules which have been made because of the amount of the additional funds which we are going to be sending. This particular Bill will make sure that the County Government of Bomet will get an additional Kshs 491 million. How I wish this amount would be put into good use. 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":1545808,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545808/?format=json","text_counter":113,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wakili Sigei","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"How I wish that what we have lost about Kshs1.6 billion, which is subject of investigation, does not become another conduit for the additional monies which we are fighting for. Today, we are angels, as one colleague has said here, because we are fighting for additional revenues to be given to our counties. Tomorrow, when we speak and ask for proper use of resources and ask the county governments and our respective governors--- when I speak and ask Prof. Barchok how he has abused the opportunity given by misappropriating funds, we are no longer angels. We will fight; we will speak so that whatever little resource that we extend to the county government is put to good use. If we are talking about Kshs 74 million towards Community Health Promoters (CHPs) those people must benefit from that money. We are talking about basic salary for health workers whose arrears are in billions of shillings. They should get the money once the amount is disbursed. When we are talking about RMLF of about Kshs163 million, that is an additional amount being allocated to the county government of Bomet, how I wish they are able to speak about the allocations for the last financial year. In most cases, the monies allocated are not utilised for purposes of construction of roads to be as motorable as those which are done by other institutions. This is an opportunity for us to push for additional money. I want to encourage Members of this House to also speak tomorrow to make sure that the monies they have sent is put into good use. Where there is abuse, let the law that we have in this country act so that we also ensure that our people get services for the monies that we send. Otherwise, as a House, we will be pushing for additional money. We will fight with the national Government; we will fight with the National Assembly. We will ask for more money to go to our county governments. As the rest of my colleagues here have said, that amount that is sent out will go into the pockets of the county governments; the county governors and their friends. Additional amount of 491 million is not a small amount of money. However, we would want to see reflection of service delivery to the people, whether in terms of payment of salaries or service delivery to a number of the projects. Unfortunately, those which are funded by other partners are visible. Those which are funded by the county governments are not visible. We would like to call upon those people at the county government, led by the county governors and their teams to make sure that as we pass this Bill, we want them to account up to the last coin. We want the people to feel the government and the resources that are sent. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I know and I want to encourage my colleagues in this House to make sure that we support and pass this Bill, so that at the end of the day, we will be having a reason to put our county governments to account. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I thank you."},{"id":1545809,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545809/?format=json","text_counter":114,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Kathuri","speaker_title":"The Deputy Speaker","speaker":{"id":13590,"legal_name":"Murungi Kathuri","slug":"murungi-kathuri"},"content":" Hon. Senator, as you recall in the morning, the business on the paper was rescheduled, or was rearranged. So, for the purpose of today's business in the afternoon, I want us to lay some papers and give notices of Motion. Then we will go back to the debate of the Bill. That is about five minutes."},{"id":1545810,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545810/?format=json","text_counter":115,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Kathuri","speaker_title":"The Deputy Speaker","speaker":{"id":13590,"legal_name":"Murungi Kathuri","slug":"murungi-kathuri"},"content":"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":1545811,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1545811/?format=json","text_counter":116,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Interruption of debate on the Bill)"}]}