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{
    "id": 666391,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/666391/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 128,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Pukose",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "governments, it was meant to take services to the people. For us especially in Trans Nzoia County, we are looking at tangible development for the last three years. There is no tangible development project that we can say has been done by the county government in any of the five constituencies. Each of the constituencies is getting around Kshs100 million and you can count the projects that have been done, they are countless. Buses have been bought, schools have been built, roads have been constructed and yet, the county government is getting more than 50 times what the constituencies are getting. This calls for self-reflection as to whether we devolved corruption. What happened? How comes devolution is not working as it should? Our hospitals are without drugs and better services. For instance, for the last two weeks, although this problem has now been resolved, Endebess District Hospital did not even have water. I had to call the county government to follow up and restore water. I am grateful that in the last few days, water has been restored. It is a challenge because if a hospital like that can go for two weeks without water. Patients have to be referred to Kitale District Hospital. We end up with complications, loss of life and other serious ailments that could have been managed within Endebess District Hospital. Even as we talk about whether auditors are performing their duties well or whether it is a question of funds, I think it is high time PAC looked at the auditing method that has been used in the past. Times have changed. We have institutions that falsify receipts and documents. Is it a question of getting a receipt from anywhere, put into the file and use that for accounting, or are we accounting for a project that we can see? Occasionally, you look at, for example, are we talking of the market rate of a commodity. For example, in the same county, we put up a classroom at Kshs500,000. The county government puts up a classroom at Kshs1.2 million. Is it justified? Is that accounting of any use? If the auditor is coming to audit the documents and say: “Fine. You did the advertisement. You followed the procurement rules and this is well justified because you have all the documents.” But are we having value for money? We need to even relook at our auditing methods to ensure that auditing revolutionises itself to conform to the times and situations. It has to be county-specific and regional-specific. In other places, it might be possible to put up a classroom at Kshs500,000 while in other places, it can be Kshs700,000. However, within the same region, is it possible to build two classrooms in the same compound, one at Kshs500,000 and another at Kshs1.2 million? It is not. These are the issues we are looking at. Look at the issue of conditional grants. In the current budget for the Ministry of Health, Kshs20 billion is set aside to buy vaccines, TB and HIV drugs. Why are we capturing that money as money for the Ministry of Health? That is donor money appearing on the budget line of the Ministry of Health. We then give the Ministry of Health a ceiling of Kshs60 billion. They cannot go beyond their ceiling because Kshs20 billion of this money is donor money and is going to the county governments. That is money for immunization, vaccinations, TB and HIV drugs. Why can it not appear as county revenue and conditional grant so that the Ministry of Health can be properly budgeted for its money? The Committee needs to look at it because we are only capturing money from the World Bank that is coming in as a conditional grant, while this other money is coming for projects. It is either from the Clinton Foundation and other supporting donors who are giving money to the Ministry. Why are we not capturing that? The immunisation is going on in the counties and our children are going to be immunised. The Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are being taken to the counties. That should appear as a line item and as a conditional grant for the counties. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}