National Assembly · Afternoon Sitting

We have a request for a statement by Hon. Majimbo Kalasinga, the Member of Parliament for Kabuchai. Hon. Kalasinga, you can welcome the students and read your request for a statement.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for the great honour of reading my request for a statement when my students are here. I wish to congratulate Maranda High School for doing well. However, Hon. (Dr) Amollo Otiende should know that the Principal of Maranda High School, Mr Edwin Namachanja, comes from Kabuchai. We are proud to associate ourselves with Maranda High School.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 44 (2) (c), I rise to request for a statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Co- operatives regarding the theft of Ksh25 million belonging to Nakoyonjo SACCO Society in Bungoma County. Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs) play a critical role in the economic empowerment of Kenyans, particularl…

Hon. Members that request for a statement is directed to the Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Co-operatives. Hon. Members, we will now go back to Order No.5. I now call upon the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs, represented by Hon. Raso.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table: Report of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs on its consideration of the Assembly and Demonstration Bill, (National Assembly Bill No. 28 of 2024) .

Next is the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Blue Economy, Water and Irrigation.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table:

Next is the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning. Who is laying the Paper on behalf of Hon. Kimani Kuria? Did the Chairperson designate anyone? In the absence of anyone to lay on behalf of the Chairperson, we shall defer it to a later time. Hon. Members, we will then go back to Order No. 7 on Questions and Statements.

We shall start with the request for a statement by Hon. Amina Dika, the Member for Tana River County.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Pursuant to Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , I rise to seek a statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs regarding the disappearance of Mr Abdullahi Ahmed Mohamed of ID No.42848612. Mr. Abdullahi Ahmed Mohamed of ID No.42848612, a resident of Ngumu Village in Tana River County was abducted in Garsen on 5th October…

I will allow the Member for Bura to weigh in on this briefly.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this very important request for a statement concerning Mr Ahmed from Garsen Constituency. That family has undergone a lot of agony and pain for the last six months. He was taken away on 5th October 2024 and it is now six months of pain and agony for the family. All his

kinsmen have come to Nairobi for the last six months just to knock on every door, seek help, and trace his whereabouts. I would like to bring to your attention that on behalf of the Member for Garsen, I requested for a statement on 12th November 2024, regarding this matter. It has now been nearly five months, and we are yet to receive a response from the Committee or the State Department. We kind…

Hon. Raso, on behalf of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs, how long can you bring the response?

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I believe Kenya is a law-abiding country that upholds constitutionalism. The issue of individuals being held incommunicado outside of police stations or jails is unlawful. For this reason, we request for two weeks to provide a response to the House. Thank you.

Hon. Raso, you should implore upon your Committee to expedite this matter. As the Member for Bura has said, he had already filed a request for statement in November last year and nothing has happened. That request lapsed. They have now, through the County Member for Tana River, Hon. Dika, again, put in the request. You can see it is several months late. So, you have to give an assurance that they …

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I am well guided. I request Hon. Amina to appear before the Committee, so that we can quickly consider some of those issues. If somebody has been missing since last October, if they are not there, let us establish that. If they are in some form of custody, then they must be produced before the courts. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Amina Dika, I hope you are well guided on that issue. What is your point of order, Hon. Keynan?

Thank you,

Hon. Raso, I hope you have taken that into account.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I have heard what Hon. Keynan has said, but I really want Hon. Amina to appear before our

Committee. She may be having certain critical information that could lead us to summon the Inspector-General of Police.

When is your next Committee meeting?

Next Tuesday, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Okay. Hon. Amina, the Committee would like you to appear before them next Tuesday. That will be 8th April 2025.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you. Let us now move to the next request for a statement by Hon. Timothy Toroitich, Member for Marakwet West.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , I rise to request for a statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Education regarding the status of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP) in Marakwet West. The Government, through the Ministry of Education, commenced the implementation of the project with support fr…

This will be responded to by the Departmental Committee on Education. Is Hon. Melly here to confirm how long it will take? Hon. Ombaka?

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am Hon. Obara, not Hon. Ombaka.

Sorry! You look alike and actually, I cannot see that far. It is Hon. Eve Obara.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I have noted and we will give a response in the next two weeks. Thank you.

Thank you. We can now move to responses to requests for statements. There is a request for statement that had been sought by Hon. Christopher Aseka, Member for Khwisero. Hon. Raso, do you have the response on behalf of the Committee?

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I do not know if Hon. Aseka is in the House. He had sought for a statement regarding scrapping of the fees for issuance of ID cards to first-time applicants. Without going through all the literature, I will share the response from the Ministry with Hon. Aseka. Following extensive consultations with stakeholders, members of the public and Parliament regard…

Hon. Aseka, you are properly assured. Next, we move to the request for statement that had been sought by Hon. Barongo, Member for Bomachoge Borabu. Again, it is the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs, Hon. Raso.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Pursuant to Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , Hon. Rebecca Tonkei requested for a statement on 26th February 2025, regarding alleged violation of the 2008 agreement between the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) and Cereal Millers Association (CMA) on wheat uptake. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development responded to the issues raised in the requ…

Hon. Rebecca Tonkei.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. The reply to my request is not satisfactory at all. It is unfortunate that wheat belonging to farmers in Narok County is still in stores because they were instructed to take it to the NCPB. The Cabinet Secretary sat with the farmers and an agreement was struck that wheat would be picked from the NCPB. The farmers took their wheat to the NCPB and to date, only fou…

That request for a statement was quite emotive. Is it true that nothing is happening in terms of the marketing of wheat? We saw the farmers on the road with their tractors. Yes, Hon. Chairperson.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, there was an intervention and the Cabinet Secretary met the concerned parties or stakeholders twice, on 26th February 2025 and on 3rd March 2025, and agreements were made. As to whether the agreements have been honoured, we shall revert to the concerned parties because there is a comprehensive report on the agreements that were made between the Cereal Growers Association, t…

Yes, Hon. Member. That will be the last comment on this one. Give the Member the microphone.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity to support the Member who raised this issue.

I am the peoples’ representative and I agree that we met the Cabinet Secretary. Our problem is not whether or not we met the Cabinet Secretary. We had a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary, but the agreements we made were not honoured. Our people are still struggling. Is the Cabinet Secretary aware that certain people imported wheat into the country while our people were harvesting wheat and nobody…

What is it, Hon. Member? Do you want to contribute on the same?

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I just want to add one or two points to this important issue affecting wheat farmers not just in Narok, but also the rest of the country. I also want to briefly talk about the sugar sector. There is no off-take of home-grown wheat in Kenya because there was massive importation of wheat. There are records. We should have been given the records of all th…

We shall rest the matter there. However, that was a very serious and emotive issue. Leader of the Majority Party, I want you to call the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development and ask him to deal specifically with wheat farming in Narok and other cereals about which it is being claimed that there were huge importations. The President subsidised fertilisers and that is why we a…

Much obliged, Hon. Temporary Speaker. We will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development to come after next week because two other Cabinet Secretaries will be coming next week. I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development to come after next week.

Let us go back to Order 5.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 44 (2) (a) , I rise to give the following Statement on behalf of the House Business Committee which met on Tuesday, 1st April 2025, to prioritise business for consideration during the week. With regard to business scheduled for Tuesday next week, the House is expected to consider the following Bills at various stages as follows—

The Cabinet Secretary will be here to answer your Question.

He is not in the House. He was here, but he left.

He had requested that he would like to comment on this, but in his absence ....

He left and he told me you would be giving this Statement.

We table this letter in the House. I thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

[(Hon. Owen Baya laid the document on the Table)]

Before we move to the next Order, let me acknowledge the presence, in the Speakers' Gallery, of the following schools: St. Jude Karurumo Day School, Runyenjes Constituency, Embu County. We also have Entaretoi Comprehensive School, Kajiado East Constituency, Kajiado County, and PCEA Mararal, Samburu Central Constituency, Samburu County. Is Hon. Sunkuiya in the House? In his absence, who will ackn…

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Let me take this chance to welcome the students to Parliament, and especially the PCEA Mararal students who are here to see and follow the proceedings of the National Assembly. I think this is their first time to be here. I welcome them with their teachers to see what is happening in the National Assembly. That is a very nice school. I had students who were schoo…

We go back to Order No.5; Chairperson Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to lay the following Papers on the Table: Reports of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning on its consideration of –

Next Order.

Let us go back to the Division of Revenue Bill. Hon. Sunkuyia was on the Floor. You may proceed.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. At the outset, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Hon. Samuel Atandi for being elected the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. The Division of Revenue Bill is an important document to the people of Kenya, the national Government and counties. In this Bill, there is an increase of Ksh17.6 billion from last year. That money w…

Hon. Aseka

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I also rise to support the Division of Revenue Bill 2025. This Bill is drafted according to Article 218 of the Constitution. It seeks to allocate funds between the national Government and county governments and the Equalisation Fund. This year, the shareable revenue that is available is about Ksh2.8 trillion, of which Ksh2.4 trillion goes to national Government a…

Hon. Members, it is important that we acknowledge the schools that are visiting Parliament. Before we proceed, allow me to acknowledge, in the Speaker's Gallery, the presence of Maguma Day Mixed Secondary School

from Maara, Tharaka-Nithi County; Mwiciringiri Primary School from Naivasha and Ngeya Primary school from Naivasha Constituency, Nakuru County.

[(Applause)]

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to welcome pupils from Mwiciringiri and Ngeya primary schools. This is where Members of Parliament sit. This is where your parents put me. As I have always told you, work very hard. You are going to take my seat when I leave. Karibuni. We are happy to have you in the House. This is where laws are made and where the NG-CDF that I use…

Very well. Hon. Mary Emaase on Division of Revenue Bill.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill. It is a very important Bill that provides for the equitable share between the two levels of government; the national and county governments. The total sharable revenue this year is Ksh2.8 trillion. The national Government will receive Ksh2.4 trillion, the Equalization Fund will receive Ksh10.5 billion and …

Very well. The new Chair of the Budget and Appropriation Committee, Hon. Atandi, did a very good job in moving this particular Bill. The general mood in the House is that he be called upon to reply. So, let me call upon the Mover to reply.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Let me begin by thanking Members of this House for the vigorous debate that we had yesterday up to 9.00 p.m., when Members stayed behind to discuss the Division of Revenue Bill. Out of the discussions of yesterday and part of today’s Sitting, I have come up with three fundamental issues that were raised by Members, and that we will need to look at as a Committee.…

accounts that we have used for the sake of this year's allocation of share of revenues to counties are the audited and approved accounts of the 2020/2021 Financial Year. That is about three years behind. I want to plead with our audit committee, in charge of auditing and approving these revenues, to work hard in fast-tracking the approvals so that we can give county governments what is really due …

Order! Members, you may take your seats. Order, Hon. Members. I will rearrange the Order Paper. We will go to Order No.11 and then afterwards, we shall revert to the normal arrangement of the Order Paper. Read out Order No. 11.

[(Question put and agreed to)]

[(The Bill was read a Second Time and Committed to a Committee of the whole House)]