Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 631778,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/631778/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "There has been a delay in formulating this Committee for reasons that the House is already aware. The nomination of Senators Anyang’-Nyong’o and George Khaniri is coupled with new entrants like Sen. Ndiema and Sen. Mvita Kisasa. We hope that upon passage of this Motion, the Committee will then retreat to elect its leadership and embark on the all-important job of looking at and investigating the many issues that are coming out of counties and county assemblies regarding the manner in which public resources are expended. We hope that the Committee will, in the discharge of its responsibility, follow the trend set by the former Chairman, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, whom we salute for a job well- done. The committee should make sure that the people of this country get value for money. That is the money that is remitted from the Exchequer through revenue allocations to the counties. More importantly, there are revenues locally collected by the counties. Quite often, there is a tendency by many Kenyans to pay attention to the remittances from the Exchequer while forgetting that each and every county is also empowered by the Constitution and the law to raise local revenues for which accountability is not exempted. It is desirable that as CPAIC does its work, they pay due diligence to matters of procedure of procurement because this is where there is a weakness in pilfering of public funds. There are also irregularities in awarding tenders, inflation of value for goods and services that are being rendered and so on. We also want this Committee to start broadening its mandate. Three years down the line, counties have also placed money into county investment ventures. We have heard of counties putting up milling and milk processing plants, among other investments that must also be catalogued. The House should then be appraised as to whether the investments are yielding good returns to benefit the people of the county. Equally important is to ensure, through the CPAIC of this House, is that all governors and all assemblies are responsible in the use of public funds. In helping this House to oversight, we want the Auditor-General to bring timely reports so that this House does not become a mortician, constantly crying over stolen money, two or three years down the line. We must have the capacity and the ability to track expenditure and be contemporaneous in our ability to see that money given in any single financial year has been put to good use. We must be able to detect malpractices in counties. I want to finish by saluting the media because many of the things we have been seeing about transgressions by the bodies we oversight, have been very well brought to the fore by the media. Some have been brought to our attention without us knowing. This affects procurement, inflation of prices and outright looting of public funds. This is a point that this House must be seized of. We either get it right early in the day or not, and the nightmare of non-accountability in the counties will become the norm rather than the exception. I, therefore, urge the Committee that once we have approved it, to elect their leadership so that they can get down to work for this House and the people that we represent in the counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, allow me to invite my distinguished colleague, The Senate Majority Leader to second the Motion. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}