David Ouma Ochieng'

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 281 to 290 of 2320.

• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I seek to support this very important Bill in my opinion. For the last eight years in this Assembly, we have bemoaned the way in which the National Government has been treating this so-called grants: the bitterness with which they are treated; the 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. view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: local criteria through which they are given to the counties; and, above all, the opaqueness with which the National Treasury and Planning handles the grants. So, from a macro-level, I support the Senate Bill on County Governments Grants because it gives disciplines on how this country can deal with an eventuality where every year, there are funds coming to the Government to be given to the counties but there is no proper legal framework for doing so. The courts have confirmed part of what we have been questioning in this Assembly. How do we separate these two things? What is ... view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this law, in my opinion, does one thing that runs through our Constitution by requiring that agreements are entered between the two levels of Governments. It also provides that these agreements shall be approved by the county assembly. It means that for the first time, the public get to participate in the process of approval and use of these grants. Therefore, they are not just opaque agreements between national Government and the county governments. This must be supported. view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Secondly, as much as I agree with the Senate, I want to fault it on one issue. This Assembly has severally questioned the criterion used by the national Government to give grants to counties to build headquarters. For example, the Hon. Member has just talked about Nyandarua County. So, why did Nyandarua County qualify first and not Siaya County? What criterion was used to decide that it will be this county and not the other one? Who made that decision? Why would some counties be required to use their own monies to build their headquarters and others get money from ... view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Thirdly, in the same breath, under Clause 4 (b), the most stinking scandal of the year is the Medical Equipment Leasing Project. This is not the first time that we are going to see this kind of a project coming up. So, I would imagine that we should have had disciplines from the Senate because this is probably their forte: That if in future, there would be a certain project like, we expect these disciplines to be followed in terms of procurement. I have watched the governors coming to answer questions on Medical Equipment Leasing Project in the Senate and ... view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this has been challenged in court and governors have protested. It is not just a court issue but it has been litigated and has been a subject of debate not just in this Assembly but in the Senate too. This particular thing about this Medical Equipment Leasing Project is what you can describe how the deep State operates. They must accept and they have no option. We had Cabinet Secretaries coming to justify this when I used to sit in the Departmental Committee on Health. There was no justification at all of not involving the counties ... view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to agree with the Leader of the Majority Party on the issue appearing in Clause 4(2). Laws are made for posterity and if we wanted to improve on what the court said about separating the two, then, we should make the law for posterity and say that in future, this is how we want grants to be handled. We could have used 2021 as a benchmark, but we cannot say this is only for the Financial Year 2021/2022. The Majority Whip is telling us that this is an example, but it is not. The ... view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: We should not kill this Bill. We must negotiate with the Senate and mediate, so that the Bill does not die the way others have died because it is very important. We urge our leaders in both sides of the leadership of the National Assembly that this Bill is negotiated in a manner that we do not lose it. We should not leave this Parliament without passing it. They should allow negotiations without bashing the Senate because we do not have to do so all the time. We can agree with them that principally, this is a good Bill, as ... view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: Going forward, the other issue I thought was quite important and should be raised in this Bill is the way donors and the National Treasury agree on counties to benefit from the various 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. view
• 23 Nov 2021 in National Assembly: donor-funded projects. In Rwanda, it is the Government that gives donors priorities not donors giving the Government priorities. I want a situation where even here in Kenya, it is the Government that gives donors its priorities which fall in certain belts or counties, so that donors do not pick or choose, but our priorities choose for us, so that donors fit into what we are doing. It has worked very well for Rwanda and I thought it could work for us too. view