Tuesday, 16th June, 2026 Afternoon Sitting

Clerk, do we have a quorum?

Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly ring the quorum Bell for 10 minutes.

We now have quorum. Clerk, you may proceed to call the first Order.

Now, following the announcement of these results, the Senator for Nandi County, the Hon. Samson Cherarkey, MP, rose on a point of clarification and stated as follows and I quote-

“I needed clarity on Order No.10, which is the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.1 of 2024). By the time you were voting on this matter, the display on the screen on Order No.10 indicated that 24 Senators had voted. It was highlighted in green that the Bill was passed. However, when you announced the results, those of us who supported this Bill were surprised that you declared the vote lost.”

Hon. Senators will further recall that the Temporary Speaker, Hon. Wakili Hilary Sigei, MP, undertook to review the division list and issue a ruling on the matter at a later time.

Pursuant to the said Standing Order, the Temporary Speaker, Sen. Wakili Hilary Sigei, MP, directed the Clerks-at-the-Table to expunge the invalid votes by the five nominated Senators. Consequently, he announced the correct results as 21 for Ayes, 5 Nays and 0 Abstentions. This was, indeed, the correct position on the results of the division after the necessary corrections were made.

Hon. Senators, during the same sitting, the Temporary Speaker, Sen. Wakili Hilary Sigei, MP, directed the Clerk to undertake an audit of the other five divisions. The audit revealed that some nominated Senators had erroneously cast votes in those divisions too. However, the anomaly in respect of four out of the five divisions had been identified and rectified before the announcement of the results with the names of the concerned Senators being crossed out from the division list as was the case for the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.1 of 2024).

Accordingly, the audit ascertained that the results announced in respect of the following Bills were accurate and in order-

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you for the Solomonic and well-given ruling on the matter I raised. However, in the last session and for the benefit of hindsight, we had the heads of delegation giving the Clerk letters appointing nominated Senators to

cast votes on their behalf. Secondly, since the nominated Senators might have voted erroneously, I would have thought, with your indulgence under Standing Order No.1 and in the principle of fairness, you would allow the Bill to be brought back for a vote since we now have clarity. I do not know how that one can be rectified within our Standing Orders.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it can be allowed because if you can correct your vote, it means also the vote on the same Bill can be retaken. Maybe, you could give guidance because this one will be a precedent that can be used in other votes. Your well-delivered ruling has guided the House in some of other matters that might arise in future. I yield back the mic.

Hon. Senator for Nandi, Standing Order No.63 of the Senate Standing Orders reads as follows-

“

(1)

No Motion which is the same in substance as any question which has been resolved

, may be moved during the subsequent six months in the same Session.

Now, therefore, in accordance with the provisions of Article 113 of the Constitution and Standing Orders No.150 of the National Assembly Standing Orders, I hereby convey the said decision of the National Assembly to the Senate.

Hon. Senators, as you are aware, the Senate on Wednesday, 10th June, 2026, approved the mediated version of the Bill in the form agreed to by the Mediation Committee and has since transmitted the message to the National Assembly. Accordingly, the Bill was presented to His Excellency the President yesterday, Monday, 15th June, 2026 and was assented to.

I thank you. Next Order.

audit function, procurement irregularities and exclusion of the board treasurer from key financial decisions.

THAT, the withdrawal of donor funding has resulted in liquidity challenges, weak implementation of sexual and reproductive health and youth programmes and loss of stakeholder confidence.

THAT, the association is experiencing labour and employment violations, including salary arrears, non-remittance of statutory deductions and pension contributions, withdrawal of medical cover, harassment, intimidation and unlawful termination of staff.

THAT, the hostile working environment and poor staff welfare have contributed to the loss of employees and deterioration of staff morale.

THAT, governance concerns within FHOK have weakened institutional relationships with the government agencies and development partners, leading to withdrawal of government representatives from the board.

THAT, there is alleged misuse, commercialisation, leasing and risk of loss of organisational assets and properties, contrary to FHOK's public benefit mandate.

THAT, the governance and financial challenges within FHOK have resulted in decline in service delivery and erosion of public trust.

THAT, efforts made to seek intervention from relevant regulatory and investigative agencies have not yet yielded satisfactory action or resolution.

THAT, the matters raised in the petition are not pending before any court of law, tribunal, or constitutional body.

Consequently, the petitioners pray that the Senate intervenes with a view to recommend the following-

The Senate Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay the following paper before the Senate today, Tuesday, 16th June, 2026-

The Controller of Budget Report on the national Government Budget Implementation Review for the first nine months of Financial Year 2025/2026.

Next Order.

Request for statements pursuant to Standing Orders No.53 (1) . The Senator for Embu County, the Hon. Alexander Mundigi.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.53. (1) to seek a statement from the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries on a matter of country-wide concern regarding the introduction of 0.8 per cent levy on tea buyers charged on auction value. This measure is likely to adversely affect tea farmers across the country, particularly those producing premium quality tea in factories such as Rukuriri, Mungania and Kathangariri in Embu County. Tea farming remains a cornerstone of the Kenyan economy, supporting millions of households and contributing significantly to foreign exchange earnings. Therefore, it is essential that policies governing the tea value chain safeguard farmers’ incomes, promote competitiveness and ensure sustainability.

In the statement, the committee should address the following-

Honourable Senators, we have an urgent business to dispense with and therefore, pursuant to Standing Order No.45 (2) , you will allow me to rearrange today's Order Paper. We dispense with Order No.10; thereafter, we will resume the normal flow as contained in today's Order Paper.

Clerk, you may proceed to call that Order. Yes, Senator for Nairobi City County.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have rearranged the Order Paper before the Order is read out. How is it being rearranged in the middle of the Order because there is a statement that has already been read? There are other statements that are pending to be read. There are only two and three on the Order Paper. Why can we not dispense with that Order, then we defer the comments to the next Order?

There is a reason why we are doing that, Senator for Nairobi City County. If you look at Order No.10, we want to see if we can marshal the numbers to do division. If you go through the statements, you have been here long enough, Senator for Nairobi City County. At the end of comments on the statements, we will hardly have what we require to handle Order Nos.9 and 10. Therefore, that is why I rearranged the Order Paper.

If you look at Order No.9, it is due for division. However, we want to see if we can be able to conclude debate on Order No.10. – it is moved, debated and replied on; so that we can handle Order Nos.9 and 10 this afternoon.

That is in order, Chair, but just, traditionally, we have deferred the Order at the point of the comments and as one of the people who is supposed to marshal numbers, I do not think the Chairperson of the Committee of Finance and Budget wants to upset me because I needed to read the statement and wait for comments. However, I am properly guided.

Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget, you have heard the mild threat.

Clerk, you may proceed to call the Order.

Chairperson, you have the Floor.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Majority Leader and the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget, I am giving you one minute to consult.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is just a simple request. We have the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill at Second Reading. It will take just a minute to vote before the Chairperson can begin the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. I know to raise the numbers that we have this afternoon is amazing. If we delay another few minutes, you never know.

If you undertake to stay, then we can push the two, but if you are not sure the numbers will hold until---

Mr. Speaker, Sir, no, let us deal with the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill (Senate Bills No.8 of 2026) so that it allows us to table the Cash Disbursement Schedule. It will only take a minute, kindly.

Very well. Do we have the requisite numbers?

Yes, we do. No need for even---

Okay. Clerk, call Order No.12.

Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly ring the Quorum Bell for two minutes.

Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly lock the doors and draw the Bar.

No.

We will vote with those whose gadgets are working, then we will correct the anomaly once we have seen---

Yes, Senator for Meru County.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I fully agree with your guidance. However, the nominated Senators are equally up to the task as the elected Senators. I kindly request the delegations that have withdrawn the privileges and powers of the nominated Senators to reinstate them. I am confident these Senators are competent. There is no need to lose a vote simply because Sen. Sifuna, Sen. Mandago or the Senator for Kajiado County is not in the House. It is very unfair, as these colleagues have been with us for four years.

Order, Senator for Meru. Unfortunately, the Chair has no powers to compel any head of delegation.

It is very unfair to the nominated Senators, honestly, speaking.

It will seem unfair, but it is outside the powers of the Chair.

Yes, Senator for Nairobi City County.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to confirm that the Nairobi delegation is much organised. I do not know about Meru. We are going to elections in under a year. Every time there is debate on this Floor and a vote is taken, people follow very keenly. There will be serious consequences for all the votes we have cast here. It is not that there is any issue.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wanted to add something to your communication. When you, the Clerk and the administration, have conversations with the supplier of the technology, there used to be a procedure. When we were using physical cards, if a Member was not present, the card would simply be removed. How is it not possible for us to have the same here? When I log in, it does not log me out automatically. When I walk out of the Chamber, there should be a way for the Serjeant-at-Arms to log out those who are not here just as we used to pull out the cards.

Basically, the nominated delegates should be special because these are very special ladies, so that there should be no way for a person who does not have the delegate--- You know what I mean, Chair?

No. They are lovely ladies and gentlemen.

Yes, but there should be a way. Technology has advanced.

Senator for Nairobi City County, if you listened to me keenly, I said I have directed the supplier of this technology to ensure that something is worked on to allow the pulling out of the cards, so that it disengages the Senators who are not supposed to vote.

Sen. Chesang, Trans Nzoia County; Sen. Dullo, Isiolo County; Sen. Githuku, Lamu County; Sen. Joe Nyutu, Murang’a County; Sen, Kathuri, Meru County; Sen. Kavindu Muthama, Machakos County; Sen. Kinyua, Laikipia County; Sen. Kiprono Chemitei, Baringo County; Sen. Kisang, Elgeyo-Marakwet County; Sen. Lomenen, Turkana County; Sen. Maanzo, Makueni County; Sen. Madzayo, Kilifi County; Sen. (Dr.) Mungatana, MGH, Tana River County; Sen. Munyi Mundigi, Embu County; Sen. Ogola, Homa Bay County; Sen. Oketch Gicheru, Migori County; Sen. Omogeni, Nyamira County; Sen. Osotsi, Vihiga County; Sen. Seki, Kajiado County; Sen. Sifuna, Nairobi City County; Sen. Wafula, Bungoma County; Sen. Wakili Sigei, Bomet County; and, Sen. Wambua, Kitui County.

Hon. Senators, the results of the Division are as follows-

Serjeant-at-Arms, you may now open the doors and withdraw the Bar.

We will now move to Order No.10. Chairperson of the Committee on Budget and Finance, you may table the report and thereafter move Order No.10.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate, today, Tuesday, 16th June, 2026-

The Report of Standing Committee on Finance and Budget on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2026) .

Hon. Senators, the report that has just been laid is being uploaded on your gadgets so that you follow debate and contribute effectively.

Chairperson, you may proceed to move.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2026) be now read a Second Time.

Before the Division of Revenue Bill was agreed on in a mediated version, the County Allocation of Revenue Bill was initially published based on Kshs454.7 billion as passed by the Senate. Later, using the mediated figure of Kshs428 billion, which is Kshs13 billion increase in revenue for county governments, we had to amend the Division of Revenue Bill in order to make sure it reflects the Kshs13 billion growth. As required by various laws, including Article 218 of the Constitution of Kenya, we have done public participation and engaged all stakeholders that are involved in giving their input on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill.

As the County Allocation of Revenue Bill governs horizontal share of revenue between the 47 county governments, the Kshs13 billion increase contained in the mediated version of the Division of Revenue Bill has been appropriated using the fourth basis of revenue sharing formula, which is pretty straightforward. It is not subjective, but a scientific division based on the fourth basis of revenue sharing formula to determine revenues that will be due to the 47 county governments.

In doing the same, a segment of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill does not only deal with the schedule that looks at horizontal share of revenue, but also county assemblies and county executives’ ceilings as determined by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) as required by law. That is also processed accordingly, where

some county assemblies had concerns. We have had engagements with about 10 county assemblies to look into that.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the most controversial position is always on the Division of Revenue Bill. That is vertical share of revenue between the two levels of government. When it comes to the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, it is prefabricated based on the passage of the Division of Revenue Bill. Once the Division of Revenue Bill is passed and the Kshs13 billion increase has been realised, the rest is subjecting the same scientifically to the fourth basis of revenue sharing formula, which is pretty straightforward. That is horizontal share of revenue while we also consider county executives and county assemblies’ ceilings as shared with us by the CRA and taking them through the various stakeholder engagements.

We requested for expedition of processing of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill by the Senate considering the fact that the Senate will go no recess on Thursday. The financial year will end on 30th June and a new financial year will commence before we come back from recess. To show our commitment to represent county governments, the instrument that will govern flow of funds from the exchequer to county governments are the Division of Revenue Act (CARA) and the Cash Disbursement Schedule, which we expect to be shared by the National Treasury any time. We felt that the Senate of the Republic of Kenya, based on our primary mandate, should not go on recess before passing those instruments that will facilitate flow of funds to county governments.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, since the County Allocation of Revenue Bill is non- controversial, I take this opportunity as I move the Bill to request colleagues to manage debate, so that we process it to its logical conclusion. We have already formally written to the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning to share with us the disbursement schedule on time and facilitate us by ensuring they share the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Bill, which originates from them, so that we can commence processing of the Equalisation Fund.

This means we would have processed the critical instruments and the legal framework that facilitates flow of funds to the county governments, starting from the Division of Revenue Bill, which is now an Act, followed by the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, which we hope to pass. It is non-controversial. We do not expect any hurdles. That means before we proceed on recess, it should also become an Act of Parliament.

We have also processed the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill (Senate Bills No.8 of 2026), which we hope to conclude before we go on recess. If we get the disbursement schedule and the Equalisation Fund Bill, all instruments relating to funds due to county governments would be processed before the end of the financial year.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I move, I humbly request that should the Equalisation Fund Bill be shared on time, it be processed even during recess. If need be, we hold special sittings to ensure it is processed on time. The last Equalisation Fund Appropriation Bill was assented to less than two weeks ago. This is sad. Owing to delays from the National Assembly and bureaucracies within our own system, and knowing we are approaching an election year, we must process these instruments on time.

I beg to move and request Sen. Eddy Gicheru to second.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise from the outset to second the position as put by the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget. Given that several Senators wish to participate in voting on these issues, I will not belabor the point. I only wish to emphasise that this is one of the most critical roles of the Senate - to ensure funds reach counties.

From the process we have undertaken this past month, we added funds through the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) . Last time, we managed to secure Kshs10 billion for the counties. We have now increased it to Kshs13 billion. This Bill is critical because money must follow functions by ensuring allocations reach our various counties on time. That is the purpose of the disbursement schedule.

As we proceed on recess, after passing these Bills today, we must return to the critical issue of accountability. It breaks our hearts in the Committee on Finance and Budget, and by extension this House, to see the kind of wastage and leakage of funds in counties after we have fought hard to allocate them. Counties must take note and our population must know that we have concluded our work this week to ensure funds are sent to counties on time. We must now allow Senators to ensure governors use the monies appropriately. I will not belabor the point because this is self-explanatory and procedural, as the Chairperson has explained, to allow us to vote appropriately and on time, I second.

Hon. Senators, the Floor is open for debate.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am getting hostile looks from the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget. He seems to hold the view that we should not debate this.

Do not worry about the look. You are safe with the Chair. You may proceed to make your comments.

Thank you for that protection, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The Chairperson seems to hold the view that this is an uncontroversial matter. I will make one comment. There is no law passed in this House that is non-controversial.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this breaks my heart because in the initial Bill, before we were furnished with the new one, the total allocation to Nairobi was Kshs23.5 billion. Under the old Division of Revenue Act, it would have been that amount. I have now seen it is Kshs22.1 billion. I want the Senator for Mandera to know that it is a controversial issue for me. That is a deficit of Kshs1.4 billion that would have gone to Nairobi to help its people. While we support, please, understand our pain. We must speak for the people we represent. I support.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I make a few comments on this Bill, it is unfortunate that we have yet to see the committee's report. The supplier of these gadgets in the House should be disclosed, so that we do not experience delays. We need the report.

Secondly, this is a very important Bill. I am happy Nandi will get Kshs8.5 billion in equitable share. This is an increment from the last financial year. I hope it will benefit

the people of Nandi through the provision of health services, roads and others. As the Mover, Sen. Ali Roba, stated, we have increased the allocation by Kshs15 billion, bringing the total to Kshs428 billion. I agree with the Senator for Migori that our work now is oversight.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, while Nandi is getting Kshs8.5 billion, our concern is that we are certified morticians because we only act after the fact. Kenyans should understand that after voting for the Division of Revenue Bill, which the President assented to yesterday, we only interact with reports after the Auditor-General audits under Article 229 of the Constitution. We are like morticians and undertakers because we cannot prevent misuse; we only review.

My brother, Sen. Okiya Omtatah, I am not sure whether he dropped his presidential bid after I told him he needs Kshs8 billion to run a presidential campaign. That is a story for another day. He has been running to court to demand accountability.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, you have been a governor; you know the challenge is that we only interact with reports after the Auditor General's recommendations. I want to propose to the House, and I hope the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget is listening; we need to be given powers to control our budgets. I know governors dislike this, but there must be due diligence before payments are made. This is why we are now talking of approximately Kshs200 billion in pending bills, with Nairobi City County leading. Yesterday, Kilifi County Executive, where you come from, appeared before the Senate’s County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC). They have approximately Kshs11.8 billion in pending bills, after Nairobi, yet we disburse money daily.

I am happy that the Senate Minority Leader and ranking Member, Sen. Madzayo, is in the House. The governor painted a glossy and rosy picture of the county. Wait until you see their trading payables. As the former governor and Speaker of the House, together with the Senate Minority Leader, you need to advise him on how to effectively and efficiently run the county.

The pending bills issue is still a problem. I expected the Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget to tell us what they are doing about the pending bills. Even in Homa Bay County, where we were today, we encountered Kshs1.5 billion in pending bills, and we were told there are eligible and ineligible pending bills. This is killing our counties. I am saying this because I have received so many petitions from suppliers and contractors from Nairobi City, Homabay and Nandi counties.

There is a scientific programme in some journal that stipulated that there are 1,000 ways to die. However, I would like to add that the 1001st way to die is to work and supply to county governments. In fact, Migori and Kitui counties are no longer a growing concern.

Secondly, I would like to comment on the controversial issue of Kshs8.9 billion that was allocated for transition of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) staff. I would have expected the Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget--- because we have not had peace.

This is not the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) rally. Do not worry, we are talking about serious matters here. We have not had peace unless the Senator of Laikipia County lives in mars.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, you have received a number of messages with regards to the UHC staff of the 7,400 who have worked for six years under contract, and they are yet to be confirmed under permanent and pensionable terms. I receive almost over 1,000 WhatsApp messages and Short Message Services (SMSs) asking about their fate.

I would like to thank His Excellency the President who was in Kajiado County and appealed to the Council of Governors (CoG) to confirm the UHC staff into permanent and pensionable terms because Kshs8.9 billion had been allocated towards that. I expected the Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget to answer the question on whether Kshs8.9 billion - and I know he will do the reply - was given as a conditional grant. That is why the UHC staff, the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) want to go on strike. Their argument is that Kshs8.9 billion was given as conditional allocation and, therefore, not to confirm the 7,400 UHC staff.

I would like to challenge the CoG--- I know the Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget are here. You normally meet with these governors, especially during the process of finances. If the CoG does not want to confirm the 7,400 UHC staff as per this Division of Revenue Act (DORA), then they should return it to the national Government and allow the Ministry of Health to confirm the 7,400 staff and be taken to the national referral hospital. In my view, however, the Kshs8.9 billion that has been allocated should be more than enough to ensure that our children, sons and daughters in the UHC are confirmed into permanent and pensionable terms.

In conclusion, any UHC staff who will not be confirmed into permanent and pensionable terms should wake up early, dress in their clinical or a doctor's gown, walk to their governor's office and pick a permanent and pensionable letter. We are tired of babysitting and telling governors to confirm the UHC staff. I saw their official, Seth Panyako, saying that they want to come to Parliament to demonstrate. To do what? We finished our work. They should demonstrate in individual governor's offices. However, I know most of the governors are absentees. Most of them are here in Nairobi than they are in the counties, for instance, the Wajir County Governor. Most of them are in Nairobi more than they are in their homes. Others are in Dubai and South Africa. I am told when Dubai was bombed, they shifted their base to South Africa, to gallivant and perambulate. They should look for those governors wherever they are.

My governor has also been absentee forever. Nowadays he is an errand boy of the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Interior and National Administration, just attending funerals. We have given him out to be the chief mourner. He is now an errand boy and the chief messenger in the succession politics in Rift Valley. The point that I want to drive home is that we cannot be passing laws in vain. The UHC staff should not come and disturb our Speaker here at the gate. Go to your individual governors.

The final point that I would like to make is on the Community Health Promoters (CHPs). We have agreed that we need to still review the stipend to be at least Kshs18,000. A sum of Kshs.5,000 is good, but it is not good enough. So, the Chairperson

of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget must and should be able to tell us what they will do to ensure that is achieved.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, my final point is on Article 219---

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is your point of order, Sen. Ali Roba?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise under Standing Order No.105 to seek responsibility for statement of fact by Hon. Sen. Cherarkey. There are many heavy statements that the Senator has made regarding leaders in this country, including his own governor. Could he substantiate or provide the House with evidence of the statements he is making, to the extent that these governors live in Dubai and South Africa, and that some governors are errand boys, as he has shared, so that the House of decorum is not demeaned by statements that are not substantiated appropriately by the Hon. Senator?

I submit.

Indeed, Senator for Nandi County, you have made very grave allegations against several state officers. Are you in a position to substantiate the allegations that you have put forth? If you are able, proceed to substantiate. If not, proceed to withdraw and apologise, as you conclude your remarks.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, how can I substantiate the obvious? Additionally, I did not mention names. However, give me---

Senator for Nandi County, it cannot be the obvious, because Sen. Ali Roba has no knowledge of what you have just said. So, it cannot be obvious. There are some Senators here who are strangers to those allegations. Therefore, they wish you to substantiate those allegations. You may proceed to do so now.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, could I be allowed to substantiate tomorrow?

You may proceed to substantiate tomorrow. Conclude your remarks.

I think the Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget is jittery because he is a former governor.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wanted to make reference to Article 219---

I am supporting his Bill. If he keeps irritating me, I might reject it.

Senator for Nandi County, just withdraw that---

Jittery part?

You are imputing improper motive, which is contrary to our Standing Orders. Kindly proceed to withdraw.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I withdraw and apologise. However, the point has been made.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, Article 219 is very clear. I would like to look at Cabinet Secretary Mbadi in the eye. When Parliament has appropriated money, it should be--- Let me play the devil's advocate. For most governors, their only defence line is late exchequer releases. Their argument is that they could not utilise their budget because the National Treasury did not release money in good time. So, Article 219 is not a statement but an invitation to--- It is a constitutional obligation. In the last session, we censured CS Ukur Yatani when he delayed in disbursement of funds to counties. I am happy that Senior Counsel and Commissioner Okong’o Omogeni is in the House.

The Parliamentary Service Commissioner, Sen. Omogeni, is in the House. Article 219 is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional obligation. When Parliament passes or appropriated funds, they should be released to the counties without undue delay. That is the wording of the Constitution.

If we had a functional National Assembly, this should have been the ground to do a vote of no confidence on the CS for National Treasury and Planning, unless the National Treasury is telling us---

Senator for Nandi, would you wish to be informed by the Senator for Migori?

Yes, he can inform me.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, and perhaps my Chair of the Committee on Finance and Budget could help here, because we are facing a thin balance, where we can have excuse for mischief on governance on this issue of Disbursement Schedule.

I have the Disbursement Schedule that was already shared in our Committee on Finance and Budget. I do not know why it is not in the House yet. We have a forwarding letter from CS Mbadi, that he had requested for this one to be approved as fast as possible. Since the Committee on Finance and Budget is actually a committee of this House, perhaps it would be interesting for the Senator of Nandi to know that in the Disbursement Schedule that I already have, we have the schedule here between July 15th- --

Sen. Oketch, has that document been tabled before the House? If not, then you cannot make reference to it.

What I am saying is that perhaps there needs to be clarification from the Committee on Finance and Budget, because I have it from the Committee. I do not know why we do not have it in the House. If the Senator...

Yes, I fully agree with you, Senator. However, the problem is that the document is yet to be a property of the House, and therefore, you cannot make reference to it. Drawing information from it to help the Senator for Nandi may be inappropriate at this time.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, my request then is, because of integrity issues, if the Senator of Nandi is debating that the CS for the National Treasury and Economic Planning has not sent that schedule to the House, and continue debating as such, then we are just excusing the governors.

That is not his point. He is making a general comment that over the years, there has been delay in release of the Exchequer to counties from the National Treasury.

You may conclude, Senator for Nandi.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not know why the Senator of Migori is jittery when I mention the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning. That is a public office, not a tribal office. So, we are dealing with him in terms of competence and ability to deliver.

Senator for Nandi, where is that coming from?

Because he is shouting over the aisle that “achana na Waziri.”

Senator for Nandi, you may have to withdraw and, indeed, you have to withdraw that statement that you have put in the tribal card. You are again imputing improper motive to your colleague.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I withdraw the tribal factor. You have to protect me from the shouting over the aisle and saying “achana na Waziri, lima magavana.”

That is why I wanted to read Article 219 of the Constitution as I conclude. It reads as follows-

“A county share of revenue raised by the national government shall be transferred to the county without undue delay and without deduction except when the transfer has been stopped under Article 225 of the Constitution.” Of course, with the approval of the Senate. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what I am saying, as you have captured my thoughts succinctly, is that after we pass the disbursement Schedule, the National Treasury should release money without undue delay. That is my only argument, Senator of Migori, so that when we hold governors to account - when we oversight governors - they have resources to do their job.

After the Chair and the Senate has passed the money to counties, let us ensure that the money reaches counties in good time, so that when we come and debate and also oversight, through the Office of the Auditor- General’s report and the Controller of Budget’s report, it is easy to hold governors accountable.

That one does not give the governors the latitude to misuse funds. We are aware that in Vihiga County, Kshs5 million was used for housewarming. In Bungoma, there was Kshs3.8 million that was used to buy a Christmas tree. In fact, today, we noticed that in Homa Bay, they were using Kshs2.8 million to construct a governor's gazebo – a gazebo is where you “beat” stories with the villagers - yet, there is no money for drugs in hospitals. In Siaya, we were being told, and the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) party leader is in the House, the distinguished Senator, that money was being misused, yet we have given more money.

I do not know why when I mentioned the party leader, Sen. Oburu, people decided to switch off my mic.

I support.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, let me also support this Bill. One thing I want to really emphasize is that 12 counties, including my own, were given preferential treatment through the affirmative action component of the new revenue sharing formula. They are

supposed to share Kshs4.46 billion for the next five years. Now, if you look at this Bill, that translates to around Kshs371 million for each of the 12 counties.

I think something needs to be done, either through this Bill, or maybe through oversight mechanism by the Committee Finance and Budget, to ensure that this money is ringfenced for development only.

The reason we gave this affirmative action to the 12 counties was so that they can do some development to spend this money on recurrent expenditure. I am concerned because most of the 12 counties are utilizing this money for recurrent expenditure. Some are even using this money to pay pending bills. That was not the objective of the affirmative action.

I ask the Committee on Finance and Budget to conduct an oversight activity around the utilization of affirmative action allocation because it is not serving the purpose to which this House passed the money. The purpose was so that, that money is ringfenced for development. I am saying this because even in my own county, this Kshs371 million is not used for development but for recurrent expenditure.

Nevertheless, we are talking of an amount of Kshs428 billion that is supposed to be shared by 47 counties. I made my contribution during debate on the Division of Revenue Bill to say that it is unfortunate that the Government has not complied with the 10-points agenda, which stipulated that in the Financial Year 2024-2025, counties be given Kshs450 billion. That means we are two years behind what the 10-points agenda requested.

I request that next time we are having a mediation arrangement, we fight harder. This is because it has become a norm that whenever we go for mediation with the National Assembly, we get an increase of only Kshs5 billion. We are lucky this year it is only Kshs13 billion. I think we can do better than that.

That is the only major mandate we have as a House. That is a moment where we need to lobby and bargain hard. I do not see any reason why we should be overly worried about interfering with the financial timelines in this country. This is because if our rights are not met, as defenders of devolution, then we have to keep on fighting.

So, in the next Financial Year 2027/2028, which will be when we are just about to face elections, we need to close this House by ensuring that we surpass the Kshs450 billion that was envisaged by our late party leader, Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga. That is the only way we can support devolution in this country.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the ceilings, particularly for the county assembly, there has been a marginal decrease or increase. One important thing that this House should not overlook is that we passed a Bill that gave county assemblies financial autonomy. However, it seems there is a problem that this Bill has not been implemented in our counties. We are seeing the same arrangement and confusion that was there. The same blackmail from the county executives continue to happen in our counties, and county assemblies are suffering.

I think this is another area that I would request the Committees involved - the Committee on Finance and Budget and the Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations - to move with speed and ensure full implementation of the Bill that we passed in this House, to give county assemblies financial autonomy.

I support.

Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also support The County Allocation of Revenue Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2026) . This Bill comes at the time when county governments are waiting for this financial year.

It is true, as other Senators have said on this Floor, that the release of funds is very important at this moment. We are here to approve and release funds to counties. It is important that counties understand that this money is coming at the right time. Between 2026/2027 financial years, county administrations and governors need to allocate and apportion the money accordingly. I think this is the only year that they have to implement the development that they have already budgeted for and try to see if they can finish the projects that they have earmarked for their counties.

My county is blessed to have Kshs9.8 billion, which is an increase from last year's allocation. This gives a reflection that there are many pending bills within the counties. In my county, we have quite a number of pending bills. Counties and governors need to know that we are approaching an election year. The wananchi are ready to bring back those who are supposed to come back. There are also those who are finishing their term and they need to deal with the issue of pending bills, which has been a thorn in the flesh.

Many traders that have done work with county governments are really in trouble. Auctioneers are all over auctioning and selling their properties. This has become a big issue in the county governments.

As we continue to strengthen oversight to county governments, it is important that we understand there are a number of projects that are not completed, while others have not been started. County assemblies together with the county governments need to go down and understand the projects that are not completed. This is because this financial year is the last year for the completion of their projects.

On issues of education, I sit in the Committee on Education, where we have a lot of problems with county governments. This is because they are not doing the functions that they are supposed to be doing in Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) and vocational training colleges. They are not even allocating the money that they have budgeted for.

We are now releasing money to county governments. They need to know that one of the functions of county governments in education is ECDE and vocational training colleges. Most of the counties have not employed ECDE teachers on permanent and pensionable basis; they are still on cash flow. This is the time for county governments to do that. They should employ them on permanent and pensionable basis and follow the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) guidelines and make sure that they do infrastructure for ECDE and vocational institutions.

It is important for the national Government through the National Treasury and Economic Planning to release money in time to county governments. This is so that there is no excuse of counties coming to our committees and saying that they do not have the allocation because the National Treasury has delayed disbursement of money to them. It is time for the National Treasury to release money on time.

I support this Bill.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity. I also rise, to support the Bill that is on the Floor that wants to ensure that we continue supporting our counties with adequate resources so that they continue providing services to the people whom we represent and have been tasked to fight for as Senators.

First, it has become a ritual, that in every budget-making cycle, we make a proposal to increase resources to our counties. However, the National Assembly has remained a big stumbling block by not supporting the effort that Senators are making in ensuring that we increase the supply of resources to our counties. I hope that we shall revisit.

We made a proposal in Naivasha when we went for our induction. We agreed that as Senators, we need to close ranks and support a constitutional amendment that was meant to give the Senate of the Republic of Kenya a say in the budget-making process.

Unless as Senators, we rally together and support that amendment, we will always play second fiddle to the National Assembly. There is no Senate I have come across, anywhere in the world, that does not have an opportunity to deliberate on the national budget.

Even the House of Lords in the United Kingdom (UK) does not elect their own speaker; their speaker is elected by the House of Commons. However, the budget is presented before the House of Lords and they deliberate on it. How come that the only thing that we discuss, as a Senate, is the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) ? How can you discuss the BPS but not discuss the budget? As Senators, we need to do something to ensure we find a way of bringing that budget here, so that we also discuss the budget of the Republic of Kenya.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you were elected by the people of Meru County. You received more votes than any of the Members of Parliament (MPs) from Meru County. How come you do not have any say on how our resources are shared in this country? We must revisit this issue; it cannot be.

Secondly, I want our governors to now start delivering services to the people. We worked very hard and I acknowledge the immense support that we received from Sen. Wambua that affirmatively increased resources to some 12 counties; what we now call affirmative resource support to the 12 counties.

I sit with Sen. Wambua in the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) and the money that was given to counties was channelled towards recurrent expenditure. We gave Nyamira County Kshs371 million. Shockingly, the budget in the Governor's office has increased to a whopping Kshs400 million. What a shame, and yet, that money was intended to build our health facilities. Our hospital called Nyamwetureko Eye Hospital in West Mugirango has remained stalled. I had hopes and expectations as the Senator of Nyamira County that the moment I gave my governor an additional affirmative fund of Kshs371 million, he was going to do something that the people of Nyamira County will remember as an effort of their Senator, yours truly. I do not know what we shall do to preach to our governors that they need to put service delivery first and foremost.

I hope now that my county has hit Kshs6.2 billion, the first ever, my Governor will now confirm my Early Childhood Development and Development Education (ECDE) teachers to permanent and pensionable employment terms. Can you imagine that

my ECDE teachers in Nyamira County earn Kshs12,500 on contract terms? Unless the Governor wants to be the enemy of ECDE teachers, he should now use this money to confirm them to permanent and pensionable (P and P) employment terms.

When I go to the county from the month of July, all the Community Health Promoters (CHPs) should be paid their arrears because we have now released the money. We want our CHPs to have their money in their pockets, just the way the Governor will have tea and mandazi in his office, so that they can also take care of their families. I hope the Governor will employ healthcare providers, nurses and doctors, so that our hospitals are well resourced.

We want to see tarmac roads in counties. It cannot be that every time we increase resources, the only language governors speak is that they have opened roads and put some murram. If the national Government is tarmacking, why can the governors also not tarmac our roads? Thee Kshs428 billion is not just pocket money, it is a lot of money. We need to see some changes in our counties. How can you be putting murram on roads day- in, day-out? Murram was put on the road heading to my home, Ting’a/Igena/Itambe last year. This year, again, if you look at the reports from the PAC, you will see another report that murram was put on the road. When you ask, you are told it rained and the murram was swept away. That is not the way we run our country.

Three, I hope that our independent offices that are supposed to fight corruption; the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), can intensify the war against corruption. I was happy that last week, I saw the EACC recover money from an officer who earns Kshs400,000, but had Kshs65 million in cash. I commend the EACC for that. I do not know whether there is any Senator in this House who walks around with Kshs65 million, including the Senator for Nairobi City County. I wonder how much money we will find hidden in the homes of some of these governors if that effort was to go to the doorsteps of governors.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we need to increase allocation of resources to the EACC, let us increase, so that they can help in fighting corruption. It cannot be that you become a governor today and tomorrow, you buy a chopper through a job that you have been given by the people, through an election. It should never be. I also plead with the Director of the EACC, Mr. Abdi, to, please, intensify efforts of fighting corruption.

As we increase resources, there are governors who are already salivating, saying that pesa inakuja, not to go and provide medicine in our hospitals, but to jumpstart their projects. That should not be. We fought so hard to entrench the EACC in the Constitution, so that they can independently fight corruption without fear or favour. Without fighting corruption, we will be sending money to counties, but this money will end up in the pockets of a few governors.

Finally, I also plead with our donors. Last week, the Standing Committee on Land, Environment and Natural Resources was looking at the way FLLoCA (Financing Locally-Led Climate Action) money has been spent in my County of Nyamira. You will be surprised that there is nothing tangible. People are not feeling the impact of the money we are getting from our donors.

You will get a report telling you that the County Government of Kitui, for example, has received money to make the city clean by doing garbage collection, but

what welcomes you to the headquarters of Kitui County is garbage everywhere. Yet, the report that comes to us says that they have cleaned the city. Senators, I invite you to make a surprise visit to Nyamira County. Stop in a market called Kebirigo or Keroka; you will be shocked by the kind of garbage you see there.

I appeal to our governors to also join efforts with Senators. We are doing the best we can to support our counties, but unless governors also join efforts and put service delivery ahead of their selfish interests, devolution will never be meaningful to our people.

I support. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Very well. Sen. Joe Nyutu, proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity. I also rise to support this particular Bill and thank the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget for the good work they did, despite us having proposed Kshs454.7 billion. Even though the National Assembly Standing Committee on Budget and Appropriation was not able to approve the whole amount, at least, we were able to get an increase of Kshs13 billion following the mediation. Even though we proposed Kshs454.7 billion, we were able to get Kshs428 billion.

The National Assembly, especially the Standing Committee on Budget and Appropriation must be asked to be considering whatever we propose here.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, constituencies exist within counties. The same wananchi that the National Assembly serves are the very people that the county governments serve, especially when it comes to health, everybody, including the Members of the National Assembly, have families that receive medical care from counties. That is why we would want to beseech them that when we take our estimates and our proposals to them, they should be giving it a favourable consideration.

I must say, besides what we allocate to them here, counties must also see to it that they collect enough own-source revenue. One thing that can aid is the automation of collections by counties. So, we must call upon counties also to see to it that they raise their own source of revenue, especially through automation of this particular exercise.

Like most of those who spoke before me have said, we cannot have incremental or raised allocations and retain the same services that we used to have. There must be a reflection on the ground. When I served as the Chairperson of the Committee on Education in this House, we made a recommendation that every other ECDE teacher serving in any county in this country must be employed on permanent and pensionable terms. Not only that, but every teacher's individual qualification must be considered when we pay them their salaries. What has been happening in counties is that you find a diploma holder, a certificate holder and a degree holder being paid the same salary. That is why, as the Committee on Education, we passed the recommendation that every individual teacher's qualification be looked at.

With this particular increment in the allocation to counties, all the governors and their county executives should see to it that ECDE teachers are employed on a permanent and pensionable basis, as we have recommended in the Senate. They must also pay them according to the Salaries and Remuneration (SRC) guidelines. I mean, just get them on a

permanent and pensionable basis and pay them the required salaries or the salaries as recommended by the SRC.

Our health, which is a major function of counties, a devolved function, has been ailing in most of the counties, where sometimes counties have no stocks of drugs. Sometimes, counties do not have a sufficient number of healthcare workers or even delay the little stipend - allow me to call it that - that is paid to Community Health Promoters (CHPs). Counties must now be prompt in paying CHPs their stipends, even as they cry that the national Government has not paid its portion of the stipend to these particular workers.

They must also equip our hospitals. In most hospitals run by counties, you will find that even basic things like X-rays are not available. With this increased allocation, counties must ensure that they equip the hospitals that they run, so that when our people go to those hospitals, they receive all the services, including diagnostic services, so that we give our people better healthcare.

Cancer has become a major problem in this country. Very few counties have cancer centres. I want to call upon counties to consider those starting in a small way, whatever they do, to ensure that they look at these particular amenities, start cancer centres and grow them progressively with time, so that our people may receive these services that are very expensive.

We know that sometimes counties also experience problems with the failure to disburse or pay by the Social Health Authority (SHA). We must also call upon the national Government, through SHA, to pay counties their claims in good time and in the right amounts so that counties can continue to provide services.

When it comes to agriculture and especially when it comes to livestock, we do not see some services that we used to see when we were young. We used to see veterinary officers going around villages and offering what was called Artificial Insemination (AI) services. These days, it is very hard to find those services readily available, especially in the rural areas in our counties. This is something that counties with the additional allocation can be able to fast-track, and also have field officers advising our people on the quality of their soils, the crop that can do better, that can do well in our soils. These are services that our people need.

Field officers also used to educate our people on better farming and agricultural practices. These are some of the things that our counties should be able to do so that we can see to it that the drafters of the Constitution 2010, who wanted counties to offer these services, may actually rest easy wherever they are.

Recurrent expenditure is something that counties must also address as per the recommendations of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act. They must see to it that they cap it at the 35 per cent; that they operate within that particular limit that we have given them, because it is possible. I mean, let them employ only the necessary staff.

Finally, counties must arrest all corruption. Counties must be accountable for the funds we are sending them. Those who have spoken here this afternoon have talked about governors who are living large; governors who are now very rich since they were elected. The Auditor-General should also be able to carry out--- I do not know whether the Auditor-General can carry out lifestyle audits of governors.

People declare their wealth every year. This must be looked into. People cannot live large when our people are looking for important services that they cannot be able to get. These conditional grants, I see it. I serve in the Committee on Land, Natural Resources and Environment, where we are dealing with the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA). There is, indeed, a lot of wastage of funds. There is a lot of pilferage. There is also a lot of corruption. Corruption must be arrested in counties so that the funds that we send there may go to serve our people and not to serve those who are serving in the executive.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those many remarks, I support.

Sen. Enock Wambua, you have the Floor.

Thank you very much for the opportunity, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also rise to support the Motion which was ably moved by the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill 2026/2027. I have a few things to say in support, but also share an opinion. I am happy that the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget is in the House and keenly following what the Members are saying about this Bill.

Let us begin by congratulating the Committee for coming up with this Bill. After serious deliberations with the National Assembly on the mediation, they have given an additional Kshs18 billion to counties from the previous financial year.

After serious deliberations with the National Assembly on the mediation, they have been able to give an additional Kshs13 billion to counties, up from the previous financial year.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, first things first. I have followed those mediation conversations very keenly. I heard, time and again, the Members of Parliament from both Houses who participated in the mediation pointing out that the additional Kshs13 billion that was given to county governments, a good percentage of it should be used to settle pending bills and other trade payables to reduce the pressure on Kenyan business people working with county governments.

At the advent of devolution, there was excitement, especially from contractors; people who never imagined in their lifetime that they would be contracting and working with government. They started working with government and they were signing business contracts with county governments running into millions of shillings. Now, that joy has been turned to sorrow for many of these contractors. County governments have accumulated a lot of pending bills. They have pushed some of these contractors to bankruptcy. Some have been told of cases of some contractors who have actually even committed suicide for the burden that they have been given by county governments for non-payment of pending bills.

Therefore, I am expecting that the pronouncement by the Mediation Committee on the use of a percentage of the Kshs13 billion to settle some of the pending bills. By the time we are coming to the next financial year, we will see a serious reduction on the pending bills, especially from county governments.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you may want to require the Senator for Mandera and the Senator for Garissa to pay keen attention to what the Senator for Kitui is saying. I do not want to go there, Sen. Abdul, but that is fine.

The second thing about this Bill is that I want the people of Kitui that sent me to the Senate to represent them and the interests of their government, to know that even though we have not got the amount of money that we wanted to get, the Kshs454 billion proposed by the Senate - after the Mediation Committee agreed on the Kshs428 billion, the county government of Kitui, will be getting an additional Kshs347 million from the previous financial year. Cumulatively, the allocation to the County Government of Kitui for 2026/2027 is now Kshs11.85 billion.

This is not a little amount. This is money that can be used to transform the lives of the people at the grassroots. I have seen the Senator for Makueni and the Senator for Machakos. I hope they will get an opportunity to also contribute to this Bill. I have seen and noted that, cumulatively, the South Eastern Kenya economic bloc is getting an additional Kshs944 million, that the three counties of Ukambani are getting almost an additional Kshs1 billion in this financial year. The allocation to that region, cumulatively, the three counties, is that Kshs1,603,000,000.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not want to put the secretariat on the spot on this one. I have proposed a regional economic blocs Bill to entrench the regional economic blocs into law so that counties can lawfully appropriate for cross-county projects. The minute we begin to look at counties as regional blocs, to undertake major projects with contributions from all the counties within the bloc, then, we may begin to have meaningful development in our regions. With Ksh31 billion this year going to the southeastern Kenya economic bloc, the three counties of Makueni, Kitui and Machakos, then it is only fair to expect that there will be meaningful development in that region.

There is a matter that a number of my colleagues have addressed themselves to, on the matter of the affirmative resource allocation to 12 counties in Kenya, the so-called small counties. I see the Senator for Elgeyo Marakwet is smiling because he knows that this Senate, in its wisdom, invoked the provisions of Article 203 of the Constitution, and 35 counties in this country, led by their Senators, agreed to donate Kshs4.4 billion to 12 small counties to try and bring them at par with the rest of the country. I sit down at times and listen to people asking what the Senate does, and I say it must be very true when the Bible says that my people perish for lack of knowledge.

That move by the Senate was a masterstroke. The 35 counties said we shall allow 12 counties who are part of this country to get an additional Kshs371 million every year for the next five years, so that we can spur growth in those counties. To the amazement of all of us, and without bragging, I moved that amendment myself, those 12 counties are the most notorious in doing the wrong things. They are the most notorious in trying to avoid or evade accountability. It is a big shame, and I want to call on those Governors - I see the Senator of Tharaka Nithi is here. He was a part of that team that worked very hard to ensure that we give additional monies to the counties. The Senator for Kirinyaga is here; he worked very hard to ensure that we give more funds to the counties.

If these Senators get an opportunity, to even contribute to this Bill, perhaps, if they will, they will tell you the frustration that they are having with their governors, trying just to push for accountability and saying, when I go back to the Senate, how will I convince my colleagues that they did the right thing to give us additional allocation, a special consideration that was given to these counties.

We did the right thing to give us additional allocation, a special consideration that was given to these counties. I ask those governors, since there are still two more financial years to go, to try and put this money to better use for the benefit of the people in those counties.

I want to address the third issue with the Senator for Mandera County, my friend, who is also the Chair of the Finance and Budget Committee of the Senate of the Republic of Kenya. Article 176 of the Constitution establishes county governments and defines them without ambiguity; that they consist of the county executive and the county assemblies. In that definition, there is no arm of government in the counties that is superior or subservient to the other. They are both arms of government.

I have seen that we have had a minimal increment in the revenues we are sending to county governments. In their wisdom, they have proposed in this Bill that we increase the ceilings for recurrent expenditure for the county executives by Kshs1.8 billion, which is fine. I want the Senator for Mandera County to consider this going forward. Where I have a slight problem is when they propose that we reduce the ceilings for recurrent expenditure for county assemblies by Kshs744 million.

We must appreciate certain things because we all represent counties and the interests of devolution. The truth is that county assemblies have been underfunded and to a great extent, live under the shadow of the executives. Why can we not find a way of ensuring a greater level of autonomy and financial muscle for the county assemblies, so that they are able to plan their spending? They should not always have a very tight budget, but at times have some flexibility to serve their people better.

I say this because in the hierarchy of elected leaders, it is the representatives of the wards who have the closest touch with the grassroots than any other elected leader in the country. These are the people who, every morning when they wake up, face issues brought to them by villagers, family members and residents from their locations and sub- locations.

I would not say that I have the solution, but a way must be found. Just as we have found a way of pushing for the ability of Senators to undertake a level of oversight of the county executive, a way should be found.

I challenge the Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, since he is a product of devolution. He served as a governor for a full term of 10 years and is now serving as a Senator. He is acquainted with devolution and its nuances better than many of us. He should find a way of making it possible for Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) across the country to be more autonomous in order to carry out proper primary oversight over the executive. That way, we will begin to see devolution working.

Lastly, one of the biggest challenges with devolution is that when we started the chain of devolution and reached the county headquarters, it was as though we stopped devolving there. The Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Budget should hear this. Sen. Ali Roba may also benefit from this. I do not know whether he is a beneficiary or a culprit in this matter. We devolved but when we got to the county headquarters, devolution froze at that level. There is a need to devolve further.

The Constitution envisages a situation where the ward administratively becomes the lowest level of devolution. There, even decisions on expenditure can be made at the

ward level. Devolution, as I understand it, was never meant to stop at the establishment of county headquarters, with all county decisions made there. We should devolve further, including more funds to the wards to help ward representatives be more effective in their oversight roles.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I support the Bill.

Sen. Murango.

Asante sana, Mstahiki Naibu Spika, kwa nafasi hii ya kuchangia Mswada huu wa ugavi wa pesa zinazoenda kwa kaunti zetu. Kwanza, nashukuru kamati husika pamoja na Kamati ya Maridhiano kwa kazi nzuri. Wameweza kufika mahali tumefika leo kwa kupata hizi fedha na kuongeza Shilingi bilioni 13. Kama hatungepata pesa hizi, labda Seneti ndio ingelaumiwa. Na kawaida hata mgonjwa akipona, malaika anaokoa, lakini akifa, daktari ameuwa. Kwa hivyo, kamati imefanya kazi zuri.

Kwanza, nitaenda moja kwa moja kushukuru Seneti kwa kukubaliana na kupitisha ya kwamba hatua za udhibitisho zipitishwe kwa kaunti zile 12 ambazo hazingeweza kupata mgao sawa kwa sababu hazina ukubwa na hazina vigezo vingine vilivyokuwa vinatumika katika mfumo mpya ambao tulipitisha wa kugawa hela.

Kaunti ya Kirinyaga imepata ongezeko kufuatia hatua hiyo ya udhibitisho ya Shilingi milioni 371. Lakini fedha hizi zinafaa ziende kwa maendeleo endelevu wala zisitumike kwa kulipa mishara ama kununua maandazi na chai kwa vikao ambavyo havina maana.

Naongea kwa uchungu kwa kuwa wiki moja imepita tangu zaidi ya nyumba 20 kuchomeka kule Kerugoya kwa sababu hakukuwa na gari la kuzima moto. Gari hilo lilikuwa limekwama takriban miezi saba au mwaka mmoja uliopita. Wale waliokuwa wanatarijia kupata huduma kutoka kwa wazimamoto wa Kaunti ya Kirinyaga hawakusaidika. Kwa hivyo, walipoteza nyumba na mali zao. Ilibidi wajaribu kuzima moto kutumia karai wanazotumia kuoga na kuomba mvua inyeshe ili moto uzimike lakini haikuwezekana.

Bw. Naibu Spika, ningependa kusema hivi. Tunapoongeza pesa hizi, Gavana wangu ambaye ni Waiguru ahakikishe kwamba ananunua gari la kuzima moto kwa sababu watu wamekuwa wakihangaika na kuomba magari kutoka sehemu zingine kwenda kuzima moto.

Jambo la pili ni kuhusu Shilingi bilioni 13 ambazo zimeongezwa. Nimeangalia ripoti ya Kamati ya Maridhiano. Pesa hizo zitumike kulipa malipo yanayosubiriwa kwanza ama pending bills ambazo kaunti nyingi hazijalipa.

Kuna watu waliofanya kazi katika kaunti zetu kutumia fedha kidogo sana. Utapata kuwa kuna mtu aliyepeleka madaftari na kalamu za shilingi 300,000 lakini ni miaka saba tangu na hajawahi kulipwa ilhali alikopa pesa kwenye benki ili kufanya hivyo. Mali za wengine zimeuzwa na madalali kwa sababu ya kushindwa kulipa fedha walizokopa wakidhani watalipwa ili waendelee kujikimu. Hili ni ombi langu kwa kaunti zetu. Shilingi bilioni 13 ambazo wameongezwa zitumiwe kulipa madeni ya watu ambao wamevumilia. Walipwe pesa hizo zitakazowasaidia kumaliza madeni ili kuokoa mali yao.

Bw. Naibu Spika, jambo lingine ni kuhusu kanda za kiuchumi ambazo kwa Kimombo zinajulikana kama economic blocs. Nadhani wewe nami tunatoka eneo moja la

kanda ya kiuchumi. Kanda hizo hazina maana kabisa kwa sababu hakuna mshikamano. Wakiamua kushirikiana kutumia fedha ambazo watapata na kutafuta masoko ya vitu kama vile majani chai, miraa, kahawa, mchele na vitu vingine, hiyo itatusaidia na kutufanya kutogemea Serikali ya Kitaifa kila siku. Hata hivyo, hilo halifanyiki kwa sababu wamelegea.

Ukulima umegatuliwa. Hata hivyo, kila siku utasikia magavana wakitaja Serikali ya Kitaifa. Wanafaa kutumia fedha ambazo tunawapa kutafuta masoko ya mazao husika katika kaunti zetu.

Jambo jingine ni barabara katika maeneo ambapo vyakula na mimea mingine hukuzwa. Ni kweli kuwa Serikali ya Kitaifa imetenga takriban shilingi bilioni 250 kutengeneza barabara. Najarajia kuwa kule Mwea katika Kaunti ya Kirinyaga ambako ninatoka tutapata mgao ili watu watengenezewe barabara mahali mpunga unakuzwa kwa sababu barabara ni mbovu sana. Serikali inapotenga fedha, nawasihi wapeane migao. Kwa sasa, gunia ya mchele inagharimu zaidi ya shilingi 1,000 kutoa shambani pekee kwa sababu miundomsingi yote imeharibika.

Kuna fedha ambazo tumeongezea kaunti zetu. Nasihi watu wa Kirinyaga wachangie ili kuhakikisha kuwa miundomsingi na barabara katika maeneo kunakokuzwa mpunga, kahawa na mchele zimetengenezwa ili mazao yaweze kufika sokoni.

Kuna fedha ambazo tulipewa na Seneti. Ilikuwa takriban Shilingi bilioni 4.46 ambazo zilienda kwa kaunti ndogo ambazo ni 12. Pesa hizo zinafaa kutumika kwa njia inayofaa.

Ni kweli kwamba wakati tunaita magavana ili waweze kuwajibika, hapo ndipo mihemko inaanza. Tunaanza kuitwa majina na kuonekana kama maadui. Kuna shilingi bilioni 13 ambazo zitaongezwa na pia zile ambazo watapata kupitia udhibitisho. Ni vizuri pesa hizo zote zitumike vilivyo ili kuwasaidia wananchi.

Kuna wale wanaoosha wagonjwa, wengine hulisha wagonjwa na wengine hufua nguo na kuhakikisha hospitali zetu ni safi. Juzi wafanyikazi wa Hospitali ya Rufaa ya Kerugoya katika Kaunti ya Kirinyaga waligoma kwa sababu walikuwa hawajalipwa kwa miezi mitatu. Tulipouliza, tuliambiwa kwamba hakuna fedha zinazotoka kwa serikali. Ningependa kuambia Gavana Anne Mumbi Waiguru kwamba tumeongeza fedha katika kikao cha leo katika Seneti. Kwa hivyo, kusiwe na aibu na mateso kwa wanaofanya kazi katika kaunti zetu. Isiwe kisingizio kwamba hakuna fedha wala hazijtoshi kwa sababu wale ni watoto wetu.

Tunajua kuwa anayekula kwa kijiko hajui kuwa anayekula kwa mkono huwa anachomeka. Gavana anapopata mshahara wake na marupurupu mengine, anafaa kukumbuka na kuhakikisha kuwa wafanyikazi wengine wadogo wanaohudumu katika hospitali zetu pia wameshughulikiwa na kulipwa kwa muda unaofaa. Wao wana malipo wanayofaa kulipa kama vile karo na bili za hospitali. Vilevile wanafaa kulipia nyumba wanazoishi na kila siku wanaamka na kwenda kazini. Ni jambo la aibu kusikia kuwa wafanyikazi wanafinyiliwa ilhali wakiongea wanadhulumiwa.

Nimesema kuwa ukulima umegatuliwa. Juzi, tuliongea sana na wahusika wakuu katika sekta ya ukulima haswa kuhusu mmea wa makadamia. Jambo la kutia moyo ni kuwa nilisikia kuwa soko la makadamia linafunguliwa hivi karibuni ili kuwezesha makadamia iliyo na maganda kuuzwa nje ya nchi.

Mimi ni mkulima. Kama kuna matatizo ya wafugaji wa ng’ombe wa maziwa, mimi ni mmojawapo ya watu wanayoyapata. Vile vile, nalima majani chai na kwa hivyo napata matatizo yake. Pia, napata malalamishi kila siku kutoka kwa wakulima wa miraa na kahawa.

Serikali ikifungua soko la makadamia hivi karibuni, bei itapanda kutoka Shilingi 30 hadi 200 au zaidi. Hatutaki kuwe na bei elekezi. Hakuna mahali mkulima wa makadamia atajikuna akilipwa Shilingi 250. Si lazima ibandikwe kuwa, kwa mfano, watapewa Shilingi 100 kwa kila kilo moja ya makadamia. Wanafaa kupewa nafasi na soko iwe huru. Mtu anayataka kununua makadamia nchini aje anunue kwa bei nzuri. Kunafaa kuwe na uhuru wa soko ili mtu auze mahali anataka.

Kwa kumalizia, ningependa kusema hivi. Tunapoelekea katika uchaguzi, kuna tabia ya baadhi ya magavana kukosa kulipa malipo yanayosubiriwa ama pending bills kwa sababu wanaomaliza muhula wao wa miaka 10 wanajua kuwa wataokuja ndio watapambana na mzigo huo. Ningependa Seneti iweke mikakati maalum kuhakikisha kwamba kulipa madeni kupewe kipaumbele kutokana na fedha zote ambazo kaunti zetu zitaongezewa kuanzia mwaka huu.

Utapata kuwa magavani wapya bado wana malimbikizi ya malipo yanayosubiriwa. Kama wanafanya bajeti inavyopaswa, wanakusanya pesa zao katika kaunti na kupata pesa zingine kutoka kwa Serikali ya Kitaifa, kwa nini kuwe na malipo yanayosubiriwa kwa gavana ambaye alifaa kupunguza madeni hayo katika muhula wake? Utapata kuwa pesa hizo zinaendelea kuongezeka.

Kuna magavana wanaofanya jinsi wanavyotaka. Mimi kama Murango najua kuwa ni vigumu sana kungojea kivuli kilichonyooka kutoka kwenye mti uliyopinda. Magavana wengi wamepinda. Kwa hivyo, naomba kamati za Seneti hii ziwanyoroshe ili maendeleo yaweze kupatikana.

Asante sana, Bw. Naibu Spika.

Proceed, Sen. Olekina Ledama.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me begin by appreciating this House for being diligent to discuss the issue of revenues being send to the counties. In fact, if there is a time that when I look at both sides of the aisle and I see quorum, it is normally during this time. That demonstrates how keen each Member is to send money to their county.

Many people do not know the work of a Senator. They think the work of a Senator is to go and build hospitals, churches, roads or schools. This is what the work of a Senator is. It is to develop legislation, to put up a spirited fight that sends money to counties.

Today, I am happy that my county, Narok, is getting additional allocation. Excuse me, my paper is here. I must look for it to confirm the exact figure.

If you give me the report, I can refer to it. I am happy that Narok County is getting an additional Kshs297 million from the Kshs13 billion we added during mediation. In total, Narok County will receive Kshs 10.6 billion.

Here is where the biggest problem lies. I was looking through the pending bills and noted that my county has pending bills amounting to almost Kshs6 billion. We fight hard to send money to counties, yet we accumulate more pending bills.

If we do not become creative as a House, both the Senate and the National Assembly, we will continue to encourage fiscal indiscipline in our counties. The total pending bills owed by all counties cumulatively is about Kshs183 billion. The figure owed by the national Government is around Kshs458 billion. The first question we must resolve as a serious arithmetic matter is how we instill fiscal discipline and promote our fiduciary responsibilities in these counties to end this issue of trade payables or pending bills.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I get tired. Every time we come here, we pass legislation. We pass Motions. Implementing them becomes a heavy task. It is like deciding to go naked and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. It will not happen. You will probably die before you reach the top. I have been thinking seriously about how we should solve this problem. I wish the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget was here because it boils down to the Constitution. If you look at Articles 212 to 214 on public debt, the only way to instill fiscal discipline in counties and the national Government is to realize that money owed by counties is owed by taxpayers. We must allocate taxpayer money to counties for them to pay.

Pending bills in county governments are public debt. They make it difficult for small business enterprises to operate. The most logical thing we can do, and I am happy my sister, the Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Budget is here, is to look at the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act. We should amend Section 109 of the PFM Act.

This Constitution talks about public debt and what can be charged to the Consolidated Fund or other funds. In this case, we have the County Revenue Fund. We need to amend the PFM Act to ensure that when we discuss the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (CARB), when we send money to counties, we redefine serious accountability in law.

Serious accountability should mean that the Controller of Budget shall not release money unless it clears trade payables or pending bills. That is the only way we will have fiscal discipline in this country. If we do not do that, we will end up in debt. People will continue to commit suicide. County governors will continue lining their pockets, buying helicopters, doing whatever they do best, living lives they would never otherwise live, because we are encouraging it.

From that side of the aisle, I see about ten Senators waiting to speak so they can be seen to be sending money to their counties. When it comes to accountability, we are failing. It is not only county governments failing, but Parliament is also failing. It is not only the Executive failing, but Parliament is failing because we have the power of the purse yet when we have that power, we play musical chairs. We do not want to be rigid to ensure that when this Kshs10.6 billion goes to Narok County, it clears the entire pending bills.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I was in the Mediation Committee, I said this and I strongly believe it, that the most important thing we can do is to ensure this additional money we are sending goes to pay pending bills or trade payables. That was issue number one.

Issue number two is to be very strict on the release of money from the Controller of Budget to counties. We have all spoken about IFMIS having an end-to-end system with no fiscal interference but no one wants to implement it.

Everyone wants to ensure they have an IFMIS accountant, a County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance, a second authority, so that by the time they requisition money from the Controller of Budget, owing to the list of pending bills they sent, the Controller of Budget, under the Constitution releases the money because they demonstrated that. First, they budgeted for it and, second, this is what they are paying for and these are the works done. However, when the money hits their account, because they need a second authority, they divert it to pay their friends or start other projects.

My suggestion was that we do not start any project. Only the Committee on Finance and Budget can help us here. Only the Committee on Finance and Budget can say, as we discuss this County Allocation of Revenue Bill (CARB), that we must amend it. I stand to be guided. We can amend this CARB to include a provision that pending bills must be the first charge. When a county does not demonstrate that it has paid trade payables or pending bills, the Controller of Budget stops the money. We must find a way. If you read Article 228, it clearly talks about the powers of the Controller of Budget. We can support the Controller of Budget not to make life difficult for counties, but to instill fiscal discipline and enhance fiduciary responsibility.

Article 228(5) states that the Controller shall not approve any withdrawal from a public fund, unless satisfied that the withdrawal is authorised by law. I am suggesting something most of you will find utopian, but if it brings fiscal discipline, so be it. We amend this CARB and include a provision that, unless pending bills are the first charge, the Controller shall not approve withdrawal of the money.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, during mediation, the National Assembly brought the Division of Revenue Bill. They were removing Clause 5, which states that whenever there is a shortfall of revenue, the national Government bears the shortfall. Why can we not be ingenious now and amend this CARB? I hope I am not speaking to myself, but to colleagues who are listening and can internalise how we can bring fiscal discipline.

We should introduce a clause in this CARB stating that, with the share of revenue, no development shall be budgeted for unless all the previous development projects have been paid for. That is issue number one.

First, all the previous development projects have been paid. Secondly, that, the pending bills shall be the first charge of account, and if they are not, the Controller of Budget should not release funds. That is what the Constitution says. It is a matter of interpretation. So, unless we want to continue playing musical chairs and encouraging people to commit suicide; unless we want to continue encouraging corruption in these counties, we must now completely think outside the box. We must be creative on how we can force a fiduciary responsibility. Otherwise, we will all be talking. Now my pending bills have gone to Kshs753 million to Khs6.6 billion.

I am glad that my good friend, Sen. Roba, has just walked in. I would like to repeat what I just said, so that he can hear. I think it is about time that we amend the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2026), by introducing a clause that demands that pending bills become the first charge of account.

Secondly, that under Article 228(5) of the Constitution, which gives power to the Controller of Budget on releasing funds, that she shall not authorise withdrawal of that

money to the counties, unless it is supported by law. The law now will be that these are the pending bills and this is what she is going to pay.

The third one we can add into it is, the entire development budget for the next financial year shall not be implemented until the previous financial year has been cleared and sorted out.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Roads and Transport, under the good leadership of Cabinet Secretary (CS) Chirchir, has moved so fast to clear every pending bill in the road sector. So, the bills that they are accumulating now are the ones that they are budgeting for. In fact, it gets even neater. The Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) have a fiscal discipline, whereby they will not advertise a road unless they have money that has been transferred from the National Treasury to their accounts. So, they have the money. Why can we, Hon. Senators, not borrow from that and bring in fiscal discipline? That is the only thing that we want.

I have always argued that the PFM Act should not be static. The PFM Act should be amended based on times. If we do that, there is no reason as to why this country cannot be a first-class world. All of us are happy when we come to Nairobi because most of us here live in our manicured mansions. In fact, I always say that when somebody is elected into office, all of a sudden, they become billionaires and live in Karen. That is why I say I will never live in Karen, because it appears like everybody goes to Karen, and this is where all the money, whether ill-gotten or people have worked so hard for, is. In fact, when you meet someone, they say, “Oh, “did you move to Karen?” “Do you live in Karen?” This is because, people have a culture where when you go there and you find the way people are living, you also want to emulate them. You do not know how they got there. You do not know if it is old money. You just find a few deals, and if there is any loophole in the law, you exploit it so that you too can be able to live like them.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to end by saying the following three points- First, Narok County and every single county has received more money because of the effort that we put in. Let us start by demonstrating that we care about the fiduciary responsibility with regards to the amount of money that we receive, which includes the one for Narok County of Kshs297 million. We want the future generation to be able to find a better country. We want Narok County also to be developed like Nairobi City County. Start by paying those Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) their pending bills.

Secondly, let us consider amending the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (CARB). Let us not be rushed into passing legislation. Let us amend CARB just like the way the National Assembly was trying to amend the Division of Revenue Bill (DORB) to introduce a clause that says when there is a shortfall in revenue, we, county and national government, share the burden. However, we knew very well that that was against Article 219 of the Constitution. Let us amend it and make sure that when we leave, because this is the last year before elections, the money that we send to the counties is going to make sense. Come next year, the money that we will pass, the Executive will get all its share, counties will start getting their money maybe in September, when there is a new government in place. So, the only thing that we can say we will take home and that we can be judged with is by making sure we develop legislation that will supersede us.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, I was eulogising one of our leaders, Hon. Lempaka, who was among the first legislators in the East African Legislation Assembly (EALA) who passed on. He is from my community. Listening to his story and everyone who eulogised him, I deduced that he was more obsessed with the impact his legacy is going to have in this country rather than being obsessed with being famous or glorified. He was obsessed not with the fame or glory, but with the impact that his legacy will leave. Can we please borrow from that leaf? Let us be obsessed by making sure we bring in fiscal discipline to our counties for generations to come.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Sen. Wakoli, the Senate Majority Whip, please, proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to add sense onto this matter of the day on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2026) .

I would like to appreciate the role of the Senate in ensuring that Bungoma County gets over Kshs12 billion. In essence, we are talking about Kshs12.985 billion. For the people of Bungoma County to understand that the County Executive of Bungoma will be galloping or using Kshs601 million. That is to say that we expect the County Government of Bungoma to work effectively for the people of Bungoma, to keep off their hands from the honey jar of the public, and ensure that the great people of Bungoma County are satisfied with the service delivery given by the Executive.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, joining Hon. Members to say that we have indeed added value to the county governments is to insist that the monies allocated and the schedule given from the last financial year indicates that there is a tendency of bad manners from the executives of the Republic of Kenya's devolution centres for not paying Community Health Promoters (CHPs) and pending bills.

I thank this House for Bungoma County. Last week, Hon. Members weighed in on the issue of CHPs. Today, the CHPs of Bungoma County have received their two- month arrears of April and May. That tells you that necessary noise and constructive criticism will definitely push them to deliver. However, that does not say that they have paid all the bills. My great county is yet to pay from July to October of last year. So, we are talking about four months. In a few weeks, we will be crossing over to the new financial year.

They have budgeted their monies and have never run out of fuel in their vehicles, milk, tea and mandazis in their offices, but they have run dry on salaries of the CHPs. It is quite ironic, but we will continue raising the concerns of the people.

Colleagues have mentioned the very important aspect of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) . Any country's level of civility is known on how it treats the vulnerable, the disabled, the poor in the society. The ECDE children need a lot of attention.

It came to my notice, and I have always talked about this, that Bungoma is a county where you can find, depending on the mood of the head teacher of a primary school, he or she can decide to tell the ECDE children to sit under a tree, depending on

whether it rained or not. They can easily come with cow dung to smear classes, because the county government has not constructed good classes.

It is only in Bungoma that a programme for porridge is launched and when you do analysis in schools, you only hear about it in funerals and public shows. These monies, as we increase to county government, must be seen practically on the table for the children, through teaching aids, learning aids and ensuring that the teachers are comfortable. For your information, last financial year in Bungoma, we put around Kshs30 million to recruit ECDE teachers and tutors for Vocational Training Centers (VTCs). As we are talking today, those amounts were removed from the budget. Where it went, we do not know.

Some county governments and even a county such as Bungoma, we have over 6,000 graduates of ECDEs, some older than me. For four times, you have been advertising on daily newspapers. These people have applied and been vetted but you simply cancel the advert and people go to factory setting. It is immoral. It is bad manners. We must condemn it and must call our Executive led by my good friend, the Governor of Bungoma, to order.

We are talking about the Department of Fire and Emergencies. We saw what happened in Utumishi Academy in Gilgil. May their souls rest in peace but we are saying county governments must be pushed to deliver such critical services of emergency and firefighting equipment.

In Bungoma, for the last three years, the machines have never worked. With regard to the budget, money has been put. Are we waiting for another disaster for people to come with handkerchiefs to wail and mourn and join people who have suffered, yet it is under their nose that they are not working as expected?

The monies we are increasing in this allocation this year is supposed to ensure that the Department of Emergencies, Disaster Management, and Special Programmes is well handled at the county level including ambulances and other facilities. You can imagine a patient telling you, “If you are going to put me in the county ambulance, I would rather use a boda boda to go to hospital.” This is because they are not sure if it is an ambulance, because the roads are pathetic. They will even suffer more in a boda boda than on a because it is gentler in taking these people to the facility.

These amounts that we are increasing in Bungoma are supposed to turn around the soil testing kits. I do not know if many Members of the House have these machines. In Bungoma, we have two vehicles worth over Kshs20 million to test and advise farmers on what fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide to use as you grow crops. Those machines are stored for as long as five years ago.

What kind of systems are we putting in place? What kind of regimes are we tolerating? Our people are planting and harvesting without the nitty-gritties and advice of the Executive.

The matter of youth involvement in the development agenda of this country is very important. When you look at the budgets of county governments across the country, the money set aside for youth, sports, talent and growth is minimal. When you talk about youth, many of them think that it is just about people enjoying themselves and not people doing what they ought to do.

We must ensure all ministries in the devolved sections have a youth component because youth are equally engineers. They can do roads. The youth are equally agriculturalists; they can do farming. Youth are equally sports people; they can play and earn their salaries. The youth are environmentalists, their share must be seen in the budget. Above all, they must have resources for training these young people to utilize the devolved monies that we are pushing to counties.

What we are seeing today are young people being turned around to be sycophants, cheerleaders, the purported goons and to just shout slogans for politicians and yet when the rubber meets the road, when the budget is read, when programmes are being unleashed and rolled out, the young people are missing.

For the young people of Bungoma, because I speak for you and the other youths of the country, we will not relent in pushing the County Government of Bungoma to ensure that young people benefit from these resources, not only by sight, but by action, to ensure you are empowered and emancipated from the dungeons of poverty.

There was a committee that was assigned to oversee the County Government of Bungoma's report on the list of pending bills, how old the pending bills are and what contractors did. The Committee should be tasked to give me a report.

Our people are suffering. In the several weeks to come, I will be looking forward to inviting the relevant committee. I will host a meeting of those contractors, suppliers, disabled people and widows who did work in Bungoma, for as long as the devolution was, to come and listen from them.

I think, we are simply talking from some tower somewhere. People operate as if we are on the top of Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), like the proverbial devil and Jesus at the hill, that you will take this or that. I will invite the Committee to Bungoma to meet these people and share their predicaments.

A county governor has a fake pending bills list. He prepares the documents for his people. They pay according to how friendly you are, whether you are politically aligned and how much you are releasing. On behalf of the people of Bungoma and the contractors of Bungoma, we will not sleep. We will ensure that you get justice for the work you did, and the Executive has no mandate to play games with you.

Finally, water is a very important sector in the lives of people. In Bungoma, we have a drilling machine. However, if you ask them how many wells they have dug for the people of Bungoma, they are ashamed to tell you because they would rather advertise tenders, give tenders, because people will pay in kickbacks. There is a percentage that they get out of contracting well drilling for the people. However, they do not allow you to fuel, to repair, and drill freely for the people of Bungoma. We have no meters. The pipes are bad. The workers are paid dismally and the meters are reading figures that cannot add up from the last time people saw drops of water in their taps. We are talking about a failed government system; county regime of Bungoma.

We must up our game, and I will ensure that in my lifetime, Bungoma becomes an epitome of success, not an example of a failed county government.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to contribute to this very important Bill.

This is the core of our responsibility as a Senate because we are discussing the division of revenue to the counties. This is the budget; what makes the counties work. This is what oils them. Without this oiling, there is no county function. County is both the county government and the county assembly.

People have made very powerful speeches. The previous speaker, particularly, has spoken very passionately about his county.

I want to start by thanking the Mediation Committee which worked on this budget between the Senate and the National Assembly. The work they did was good but not good enough.

Our expectation was that this allocation to the counties would be pushed to Kshs450 billion. However, they have pushed it up to Kshs428 billion which is an addition of Kshs13 billion over what we were allocated last year. Though this is a small addition, it is still something. It is not nothing. We are going to make sure that in next year's budget, we push as much as possible.

I do not understand why it is a tug-of-war between us and our colleagues in the National Assembly, who also come from the same counties where this money is supposed to go. Why should they not support monies which go to the counties? I know that they are allocated some money to manage. Maybe that is the reason why they are so hard on the Senate. I hope that next year, God will get into their souls so that they understand the reason why we are pushing for more money for our people in the village.

People have spoken to the very serious issues of pending bills which are monies owed to people who either supplied the counties or worked as contractors. They are not paid because monies are diverted to other so-called urgent issues. There is no incurrence of expenditure that is not budgeted for. All these items are budgeted for. That budgeting means that there is a budget line and there is money allocated to it. When that money goes to the county, that is where the problem starts. Where does that money disappear to? Why does it not go to the intended purpose? Why does it not go to the person who supplied? Why does it not go to the person who is contracted to build? This is corruption of the highest order.

Then it is thrown into a dungeon called pending bills where they pile thousands and billions of money and forget about them. They then say that before paying a pending bill, there is a special audit so that they know exactly what was spent. This is serious. How do you not know where it was spent when those people actually supplied you and you approved? There are orders you gave and contracts you entered into but when it comes to the time of payment, you do not pay them. They claim that some of them might not have been rightfully spent because they were spent by a previous government, where they were not involved. This is because the person who spent them was their opponent. Therefore, they cannot just pay what was spent by their opponent.

It should be understood clearly that governments are continuous. Whether you are the one who spent or not, you have the responsibility to pay for them. You are accountable to them when it comes to Parliament or the Controller of Budget. Whether you like or not, you have to account for what was spent by the government whether you are the one who spent or not, it is your government. Whether it is the government of Siaya or Kisii. So, why do you want to degrade or disgrace what was spent by your

brother or your opponent? What should be done is that those things should not involve wananchi by telling them to wait because you are still auditing. What are you auditing?

I wonder why these pending bills keep on coming. We know that doing business with counties has become very expensive. When people deal with the counties, they have to put a higher price. This is because they borrow money from banks which charge them interest. So, when they offer services to the counties, they have to offer it more expensively because they know they are not going to be paid immediately. This is a very serious matter.

I heard Sen. Olekina suggesting an amendment of some laws. Let us, first of all, amend the main law which is the County Government Act to make pending bills a first charge on their budget when they are making any expenditure. It should be paid before any other thing. It will take priority over salaries. Then salaries become the second and so on. That is the law in the main government. The debt service takes precedence over any other thing. However, even in the national Government, they still find a way of keeping pending bills and separating them from payment of debt.

The Equalisation Fund was meant to serve 12 counties. However, consideration of historical injustices should be taken. Some counties like mine have been completely marginalized. This is because we have been in the opposition for the longest time than some of the counties around my area.

I am happy that, at least, something small is coming to my county as a marginalised county. This is because truly, it is not being given for nothing.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a historical thing which happened to our counties and I would like to appreciate that aspect.

I also would like to talk a little about my county. In my county, we get over Kshs8.5 billion and an Equalisation Fund of close to Kshs2 billion. It is a shame that if you go to markets such as Bondo and Siaya, you will find that people have downed their tools. Some of them have even poured garbage on the roads making them stink because they have not been paid.

Where does their salary go? Salary is a given thing; it is something which is allocated, monies that should be available, unless somebody is not accounting for the monies they are given which makes the Controller of Budget (CoB) to withhold the release of funds to them. That is their own shauri, they should not make the workers on the ground suffer.

Siaya. Why would you be transferring people from one station to another and expelling them simply because they are politically not supporting your ideas?

If your ideas are bad, the private views of your employees after leaving office are their own and they are entitled to them. When you say that you are a democrat, an idea you are preaching to the country and yet you are a dictator in your own county, you are preaching water and drinking wine. I do not want to speak more than that. I think I have given out my views on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill. I support the bill.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir.

Thank you, Sen. Oburu, for supporting the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, Senate Bills No. 10 of 2026.

Sen. Kisang, proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. From the onset, I support the Bill.

From the discussion that we had last week and even today, we have an additional Kshs13 billion compared to last year's Kshs415 billion. The Mediation Committee made a lot of effort, that is why we were able to get the additional Kshs13 billion. However, last year, when I was a Member of the Mediation Committee, we lobbied and got an additional Kshs30 billion, that is, from Kshs385 billion to Kshs415 billion. So, next year, they need to put more effort so that we can at least go to the Kshs450 billion that was agreed upon in the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) Report.

I am saying this because I come from one of the 12 small counties that will be getting an affirmative action fund of Kshs371 million every year, from last year until

Sen. Onyonka, you have the Floor.

First of all, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity. As you are aware, some of us have actually been going through the emotions of what we need to contribute here about this Bill.

I want to congratulate the youth leader, Sen. (Dr.) Oburu. He has raised very critical issues. I would also like to give credit to Sen. Wafula Wakoli, who has also raised very good points. However, the most important takeaway from what has been discussed this afternoon is actually what Sen. Olekina has said.

Interestingly, if somebody was to take the audit reports and take the HANSARD reports on the presentations and discussions which take place about the county allocation of revenue and the division of revenue, the one of last year and this year, you would just hear the same thing. Just listen. There is corruption. We discuss about, oh, you know, you have got the Auditor-General reports which have been coming. Oh, you know, the Controller of Budget has constantly raised these issues. What are these issues about? There is no fiscal discipline in the management of financials.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as a result, we have ended up accumulating pending bills which were never meant to be there. In fact, some of the county governments that previously had pending bills to maybe Kshs1 billion, now if you check in their books, and I intend to do that soon, you will find the pending bills have actually increased. So, some of us have started asking ourselves what is it that is wrong with our county governments? Why is it that county systems which had been put into place 15 years ago when devolution started look like they are not working?

I am convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that when we diluted Chapter 6, that is when the rain started to beat us. What am I saying? For many years, the IFMIS system

has never been allowed to work the way it was meant to work. The way the IFMIS system has been working, according to me, is deliberate. When you go down and try to find out what the issue was, you are told it is the National Treasury that have been saying that IFMIS should be domiciled within the National Treasury. If fact, there is no reason why you, people, should even worry about how the IFMIS system works yet my conviction is that if you have the IFMIS system fixed, where First in First out, becomes a policy and a standard for our county governments, chances are that, the number one, the solution to the problems of the pending bills.

Number two, come to the very critical point. Yes, we are discussing the revenue allocation which comes from the national Government, and you are very sure, and all of us know, county governments actually collect revenue. That is what my leader, Sen. Kisang, has talked about. It is something we have talked over and over about. If you have a financial platform that works for Murang’a County, you have the same platform working for, let us say, Bungoma County and you have the same system which is working for Makueni County - why does it become difficult for county governments to accept one standardised financial platform system which collects revenue, which has been standardised to the local level, whereby you look at the local data to help you actually precisely collect the revenue and make sure that you are accountable for it?

The reason is very simple. It has been said that local revenue is put in commercial banks, and as a result, the county revenue officers bank the money, the CEC finance and the governor have direct access to that money. That is why you will find some counties which have been expected to collect more than Kshs1.2 billion, keep on collecting a Kshs100 million and nobody talks about it. So, we have a problem even with the revenue collection, leave alone the revenue expenditure which is given by the national Government.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you need to look at what some of our counties are going through. The county governments do not follow procurement law, completely. For example, in my county, the governor says he bought equipment for a Kshs1 billion. Do you know what Kshs1 billion can buy in equipment? Guess what? There was no procurement. This equipment has been imported from China. You know what? With regard to this equipment, the NTSA cannot give you the documentation as who the owner is. Yes, the equipment is not new. How did that happen? Why do we not then allow all government departments and sections to actually buy mtumba vehicles? You find everybody talking about oh, EACC, they need to move, they need to do something.

We have myriads of reports and every time we prepare one and ask questions about wastage or corruption in county governments, the EACC does nothing. We become victims having to explain to the public what is happening to their money. They ask us what we are doing about it. We tell them that Senators are supposed to have oversight funds to manage oversight and monitor how money is spent, but those funds are not even there.

Tell me how I am supposed to spend Kshs.1.5 million in a year to oversee someone running Kshs10.5 billion, like in Kisii County and yet we have no vehicles, no data and no information. The MCAs are compromised. So, they cannot even ask questions because nobody will tell them. The chief officers think that any time you ask

questions, you are fighting the governor. In fact, they say you want to become the governor. I wish they knew that some of us do not care about becoming governors. The reason some of us do it is because we are embarrassed by the underperformance of our county governments and how the system runs.

Concerning human resources issues, where do you find the largest number of ghost workers? It is within the county governments. When every governor comes in, he creates an outfit to employ his people. He considers those he found from the previous governor enemies yet some of these governors are not even running for office again because they have left. When you ask whether they have done an audit showing public employment numbers, the total wage bill or the amount of money being spent on salaries, you will never see that.

The same problem exists in county budgeting. Money is allocated to departments and sectors but once it is released within two or three weeks, the governor’s office voids all transactions and payments previously budgeted for. Instead, they bring in people and companies where they have an interest and pay them.

In my county, about 15 companies doing roadworks in Kisii are owned by only two people. That is against the law. It is frustrating that we are unable to do anything, yet the public looks to us as the solution for service delivery, while governors keep saying we are useless. They ask what Senators do and claim we do nothing.

In my county, last year, 54,000 bursary cheques were written physically. Is that normal? Why would someone write physical cheques? In the NG-CDF, you make a list of students to receive bursaries, take it to the bank and the bank pays through RTGS. Why are counties writing physical cheques? This is because the money is cashed out. That is why those cheques are written by hand. Can you imagine 56,000 cheques? How much does the county lose? A cheque leaf costs Kshs100. That is Kshs5.6 million lost just by writing cheques, yet we could pay by RTGS. Why do they not want to use the RTGS? It is because it keeps a record. With cheque leaves, you can talk to the auditor and he does not have to look deeply.

Look at what is happening right now. Governors are the ones supplying milk to schools and other facilities. What has the Committee on Health and other committees of the Senate done? I can tell you that some of the milk is not fit for human consumption because some of it comes from the international market. As such, some of the milk is fake. It is just a liquid that looks like milk that our children consume but we have never investigated that.

People tell us that some governors import powdered milk from outside the country. After that, they give it to companies that do milk processing and packaging and that is how they sell it. They put their pictures on milk packets in order to start indoctrinating children the Moi way. They say that President Moi used to give milk to school children and that is how they would like to be remembered. Therefore, those ladies and gentlemen who run our counties provide milk as a marketing tool so that they can be re-elected and stay in office. However, we passed a law here saying that we do not want anybody’s picture or name to be put on a product or project by either county or national Government but nobody listens.

Look at the amount of money being given for bursaries. When you ask how many students benefit like in the case of my county, nobody knows. When we ask how much money is being spent on milk that children are getting--- If I asked to be given a list of Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) teachers that we have, it will never come.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the breakdown of the county governments is so massive that I hope my colleagues in this House or perhaps we will establish a select committee to try to figure out why the system is deliberately broken and if it is corruption, the best way we can deal with that. That is why today I am happy about what Sen. Olekina said. Could we say that from now onwards, if they do not make payments for pending bills---

Those companies are known. The fear that some of us have is that these guys will start paying their friends whom they added to the lists recently. Therefore, people who have never been paid for 10 years will still not be paid. We can demand that an audit be done which is very basic. For example, they should tell us the number of people they have paid, from which year, and whether they are current or not. That is something that needs bravery and people who mean well. Ladies and gentlemen, if we do not watch out, our county governments will collapse. You will be shocked if you listened to things that are taking place.

My colleagues have talked about statutory deductions such as payments to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). There is also money for per diem for certain workers. What is crazy is that workers cannot even complain to anybody because immediately, they raise a complaint, many of them are given show cause letters to explain why they demand to know why their National Social Security Fund (NSSF) or SHIF payments have never been made.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am looking at this issue in an interesting manner. Yes, we are fighting for our counties to receive more money. Kisii County will get close to Kshs10.5 billion. If you take that amount of money and add what the donor community is giving us, it is always around Kshs12 billion to Kshs15 billion. If you look at what the county government gets, you will discover that our wage bill is about Kshs5.2 billion. Therefore, for five years that will end next year, which is the time for the current government which I also belong to, Kisii County would have received Kshs50 billion.

The question I am asking is simple. If you give me Kshs50 billion and the wage bill was Kshs5.5 billion, in five years you would have used Kshs25 billion. What is the possibility that Kshs25 billion was used on development expenditure?

Ninety per cent of the money that remains after the wage bill is put into recurrent expenditure, because recurrent expenditure covers fuel payments to private companies. In my county, one company receives Kshs 70 million per month. If you calculate, one company can be paid Kshs70 million to supply fuel for county vehicles, yet the vehicles are not more than 30. When you look at the fires happening in Kisii, it is notable that one of the Members of Parliament, Hon. Barongo, had a petrol station with a small stake. When it was burning, there was no fire station in Kisii, and yet, if you go to the books, Kisii County is supposed to have four fire stations, which do not run, they do not exist and they do not function. So, if we have a major emergency, we have to look for the

military, we have to come to Nairobi, talk to Nairobi City County or rush to Kisumu or Nyamira and beg them to assist us. These are the frustrations we go through. Our people are beginning to lose their patience. I support this Bill.

I hope there will be an amendment so that we begin to fix the corners and the tenets that make it impossible for the public to receive services because many county governments resent us. I received a message from someone telling me “wachana na huyo Onyonka anasema sisi ni wezi”. The truth is, we have the evidence. We never accuse anybody without cause.

There are some incredibly wonderful people in county governments who have delivered, who work as professionals, doctors, who just went to work, but they are treated like political subjects being tossed left, right and center. An expert is taken by the county government for further education, when reports back to work, he is deployed to work in some Level 3 hospital as a junior officer. The level of training, experience and age does not matter.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I really hope my colleagues will seriously look at and consider the challenges we have in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Sen. Onyonka. Proceed, Sen. Danson Mungatana.

Bw. Spika, nachukua nafasi hii kukushukuru kwa kunipa fursa nichangie Mswada huu wa Kuidhinishwa kwa fedha zitakazoenda kwa serikali zetu za kaunti.

Nina furaha kuwa mwaka huu, katika ugavi wa kwanza wa mapato kati ya Serikali ya Kitaifa na kaunti zetu 47, tulipata nyongeza ya Shilingi bilioni 13. Kwa hivyo, kaunti zote kwa pamoja zimepata Shilingi bilioni 428, ambayo ni ongezeko la Shilingi bilioni 13 kutoka fedha tulizopata mwaka jana. Tulipitisha hiyo.

Leo, tunazungumzia ugavi kati ya kaunti 47 tulizonazo. Nina furaha kuwa Kaunti yetu ya Tana River imepata nyongeza ya zaidi ya Shilingi 223,749,000. Nimefurahi kwa sababu kila mwaka, kama Seneta wa kaunti hiyo na Maseneta wengine, tunapigania mgao wa kaunti zetu uongezeke. Imani yetu ni kwamba magavana waliyochaguliwa na wananchi wakipata fedha hizi tulizopigania, wataweza kutekeleza kazi inayostahili kufanywa katika kaunti zetu.

Bw. Spika, sote tunafahamu changamoto zilizopo katika kaunti hizi, hasa, usimamizi wa magavana katika kaunti zetu zote 47. Hivi ni kusema, tuna maswali mengi kwa hawa magavana. Kuna wengine ambao wamejaribu na tunawashukuru sana lakini, kuna wengine ambao hawakufanya vile wananchi walivyotarajia. Ningependa kusema, Gavana wa Kaunti ya Tana River ametuangusha katika ile kazi ambayo anafaa kufanya.

Mimi kama Seneta, kama tungekuwa katika uwanja wa mpira, nikicheza nambari 10, ningemchukua na kumpigia pass akicheza nambari 9 mgongoni, lakini mahali pa kufunga ule mpira ingekuwa ni nje. Mpira huu ameupiga nje kwa zaidi ya miaka mitatu. Hajafunga goli, jambo ambalo limeleta dhiki kwa wananchi wetu.

Bw. Spika wa Muda, ningependa kuzungumzia kuhusu hizi pesa ambazo tumeziongeza leo hii. Matarajio yetu kama watu wa Kaunti ya Tana River ni kwamba, kwa mwaka huu, kwa mara ya kwanza, gavana awache vitimbi. Serikali yake iwache

kucheza na hela za wananchi. Wafanye kazi ambayo sisi kama wananchi tunatarajia ifanywe.

Bw. Spika wa Muda, tumesema mengi kuhusu hospitali, ukosefu wa madawa, na hela ambazo wafanyibiashara wanadai na hawajalipwa. Walakini, leo katika Seneti, ningependa kusema ya kwamba tunatarajia sana kuwa katika mwaka uliobaki, wakulima na wafugaji wa Kaunti ya Tana River wataona hizi hela ambazo tumepitisha hapa zikifanya kazi kwa kitengo cha ukulima na ufugaji.

Bw. Spika wa Muda, ni aibu. Juzi, nilikuwa katika mji wa Kalkacha, hapo makutano Hola. Nilionyeshwa soko ambalo lilikuwa lijengwe pale Kalkacha. Soko hilo lilianzishwa miaka iliyopita. Walakini, huyu gavana wa sasa alipoingia, mpaka leo soko limekwama.

Wenzangu wameongea kuhusu mambo mengi lakini mimi nataka kuongea haswa kuhusu mipangilio au maendeleo ambayo yamekwama. Si soko hilo la mifugo la Kalkacha ambalo limekwama peke yake ila kuna project nyingi za serikali ya kaunti, yakiwemo dispensary ambazo hazijamalizika na majengo ambayo yameanzishwa lakini yakifika nusu yanaachwa. Kwa hivyo, naomba magavana ambao wanatusikiliza, haswa Gavana wa Gatuzi la Tana River--- Tafadhali, maliza ile miradi ambayo imekwama, na ambayo ulizikuta zimeanzishwa, au ulizianzisha na hujazimaliza au hazifanyiwa ile kizungu inaitwa handing over. Usianzishe miradi nyingine. Maliza hizi miradi ili wakati unapoondoka, yule ambaye ataingia kuchukua nafasi yako ataendelea na mipangilio yake. Hii iwe ndio mipangilio sawa sawa kwa magavana wote. Ni makosa sana kutumia hizi hela ambazo tunazipigania hapa halafu hazimalizi kazi ambayo zimeanza.

Wenzangu wamezungumzia mambo mengine lakini mimi nasema kwamba kuna project ambazo zimekwama. Ili tuone kwamba hizi hela zimefanya kazi, mpaka zile project ambazo zimeanzishwa zikamilishwe. Hata kama gavana aliyekuwepo siyo rafiki yako, ukamilishe kwa sababu hela zile ni za wananchi na wanataka zikamilishe ile kazi yao. Si mambo ya urafiki na gavana ama contractor aliyeondoka.

Mbali na hilo, ninasihi gavana ambaye yupo sasa na anaenda kutoka, kuwa hizi hela tunazopitisha mwaka huu wajaribu kuweka ufugaji na ukulima mbele. Wakati huu, pale Tana River watu wengi wanapata biashara kutoka kuwa hizi kazi mbili. Gavana asaidie wakulima wapate mbegu na zile Minor Irrigation Schemes ambazo zimeahidiwa muda mrefu na hazijaanzishwa.

Ikiwa gavana atatumia hela hizi ambazo tumeziongeza hapa na kujaribu kumaliza mipangilio ya kujenga ma-cattle dips kwa wafugaji ya kutoa dawa kwa wale Wanyama wao, ya kujenga masoko yaliyoanzishwa, basi watu wa Tana River wataona hela hizi zinafanya ile kazi iliyoandikishwa.

Ningependa kusisitiza tena EACC wafanye` kazi yao. Ni aibu hata mbele ya Mungu. Pesa za maskini zinafujwa kupitia hizi serikali za kaunti kama vile kaunti yetu ya Tana River ni aibu. Watu hawana huruma hata kwa masikini wakiwa wanachukua hizo pesa.

Taasisi iliyowekwa kupigana na ufisadi bado hatujaona ikifanya kazi tunavyotaka. Tungependa kuona wakubwa katika kaunti, ambao wanahusika na kutoa hizi hela, wakikamatwa na kupelekwa mbele ya mahakama. Sisi tunasikitika kabisa kwamba ushahidi upo, unapelekwa na faili kufuguliwa, maafisa wa EACC wanatumwa lakini

ikifika hatua ya kupelekwa huko mbele unaona watu wanangoja mwaka wa kwanza, wa pili na wa tatu. Taasisi hii inafaa ifanye kazi zaidi ya vile inavyofanya.

Vilevile, kuna ofisi ya Public Prosecutor. Huyu naye amelala katika kazi yake kwa sababu saa zingine wale watu wa kupambana na ufisadi wanapeleka faili kwa Kiongozi wa Mashataka lakini faili zinaenda huko kulala tena. Huku wamemaliza na kule faili haziendi kortini.

Wananchi wanakasirika sana haswa wa Tana River. Sasa imekuwa kama ni fashion kwamba watu wanangojea eti gavana, Waziri au chief officer atoke ndipo apelekwe kortini. Wazungu walisema, justice delayed is justice denied. Ukichelewesha kuleta haki, hiyo haki inapotea.

Kwa hivyo, ingawa tunafurahia kuongeza pesa, hayo masuala kadhaa ambayo nimeyataja yashughulikiwe ili wananchi wa Tana River na kaunti zingine wapate faida ya kazi ambayo tunafanya katika Seneti.

Kwa hayo machache, naomba kusupport Mswada huu.

Sen. Mungatana, hujasema machache. Ungesema “Kwa hayo mengi”.

Kwa hayo mengi.

Asante. Proceed, Sen. Tobiko.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank you for this opportunity. I see time is gone. Let me try to utilise less than five minutes.

Do not you worry, Sen. Tobiko. If it gets to 6.30 p.m., you will have your time to recover tomorrow. Remember that tomorrow, we are sitting from 9.30 a.m. I am sure this is a very important Bill that will still be on the Order Paper.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, sometimes, because of other duties, a time might come when you will not be there. Anyway, I support the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2026) .

At the risk of repeating a lot of things that my colleagues have already said, I have seen the First Schedule and the equitable share of revenue allocated to different counties. Generally, the allocations have gone up, as already stated, by more than Kshs13 billion. Kajiado County in particular, which is a county of my interest, even as I have an interest in the rest of Kenya, is going to receive Kshs9.8 billion.

In the Second Schedule, the county budget ceilings on recurrent expenditure, Kajiado County is going to expend around Kshs500 million. Like all other colleagues, if this money is well spent and our counties stick strictly to prudent expenditures on devolved functions, the entire country will feel the benefit of devolution.

I have never understood why governors want to give themselves other errands besides devolved functions. The Constitution is very clear on the functions of counties. I am sure this was well informed by the realities on the ground. Counties are expected to address water shortages, access to clean water, health services, roads infrastructure, in accordance to the classified roads, agriculture and livestock production, veterinary services and issues to do with the environment, which are crucial. Another very important duty of counties is provision of basic education.

If counties concentrate on these very important functions, they will not need to struggle with functions that already have an allocation from the national Government.

We have seen our county staff go without payments yet they are being deducted statutory deductions for the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Deductions for their loans are also not being remitted to their SACCOS. I do not understand why we have such a malfunctioning system in many counties. With the kind of resources that we have allocated to counties, we now expect counties to absorb the UHC staff----

Sen. Tobiko, you will have 15 minutes to conclude your contributions tomorrow.