1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
Hon. Speaker, even as I beg to move thus, I will be requesting you and the House to give us direction on certain pertinent constitutional matters. Let me just mention that as the Members are aware, on 23rd July 2019, the Division of Revenue (No.2) Bill was published and tabled before the National Assembly and forwarded to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, after which, it underwent the Second and Third Reading on 25th July 2019.
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
Similarly, the Senate, on Tuesday, 23rd July 2019, passed its version of the Division of Revenue Bill No.13/2019, which is what we have today, and forwarded for concurrence through a Message to the National Assembly.
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
Hon. Speaker, you forwarded that Bill to the Budget and Appropriations Committee after reading that Message to this Assembly. However, Article 95(4) states thus: “(4) The National Assembly— (a) determines the allocation of national revenue between the levels of government, as provided in Part 4 of Chapter Twelve;
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
(b) appropriates funds for expenditure by the national government and other
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
national State organs; and
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
(c) exercises oversight over national revenue and its expenditure”.
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
While Article 96(3) stipulates that:
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
“The Senate determines the allocation of national revenue among counties, as
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
provided in Article 217, and exercises oversight over national revenue allocated to the county governments”.
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1 Aug 2019 in National Assembly:
This, therefore, raises the concern as to the constitutionality or otherwise of the Division of Revenue Bill as forwarded by the Senate. However, the subsequent implication is that this undertaking risks diverting the attention of this House from the objective of sharing of resources equitably between both levels of Government.
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