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{
"id": 1407751,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407751/?format=api",
"text_counter": 330,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
"slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
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"content": "This happened in Machakos County one time. Quite a number of businessmen who Machakos County owed money have done fantastic work in quite a number of projects in Machakos. The County Government of Machakos was not able to pay them."
},
{
"id": 1407752,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407752/?format=api",
"text_counter": 331,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
"slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
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"content": "Similarly, in the County Government of Makueni, there are quite a number of bills which have been pending for years and have been carried forward to the current government. I am aware that the current governor of Makueni has made an attempt to pay quite a number of pending bills. However, we still have a lot of money owed to contractors in Makueni. That is making contractors bitter and affecting even taxes of the country. Such people would have paid taxes and the country would have progressed. Therefore, this Motion is important. We need to have a way of clearing, as much as possible, all pending bills in the national and county governments because they affect budgeting and progress of a county. I support this Motion. The country should have a plan to clear all pending bills nationally and in the counties. Let them make sure that the same are verified, so that the country is not defrauded through fake contractors and contracts where money is owed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important to have a way of verifying. As soon as a pending bill is verified, it should be paid. I thank you."
},
{
"id": 1407753,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407753/?format=api",
"text_counter": 332,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "The Deputy Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13590,
"legal_name": "Murungi Kathuri",
"slug": "murungi-kathuri"
},
"content": " Sen. Methu, you can utilize your balance of 10 minutes."
},
{
"id": 1407754,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407754/?format=api",
"text_counter": 333,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I had already made part of my contribution. Before I stopped, I was painting an image as a Member of the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) and my Vice-Chairperson is here. I wanted to show how county governments end up with holes in their budgets. I was pointing to this scenario which is uniform among all our counties when it comes to own source revenue. Even if we make payment of these pending bills a first charge and county governments do not estimate their own source revenue in regards to what they have collected within that financial year, we may not achieve much. You find a county that has collected Kshs450 million, Kshs500 million or Kshs600 million in their budget, but in their budget statements, they estimate to collect Kshs1.2 billion. It is out of this budget that they developed their procurement plans. Ultimately, having expected to collect Kshs1.2 billion, they end up collecting Kshs700 million or Kshs800 million. This then leaves a hole of about Kshs400 million in their budgets. All counties need to address this deficit. I know Sen. Cherarkey will help me. There is another budgetary provision that they intend to beat by overestimating their own source revenue. The Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 that we rely on require that at least 30 per cent of the budgets of all the county governments, including the national Government, must go to development. So, this money they put in their budgets, in their own source revenue, is part of what goes to development. I would want you to look at the pending bills that we are speaking about, not just for Nairobi City County, Kiambu County, or Mombasa County, you rarely find pending"
},
{
"id": 1407755,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407755/?format=api",
"text_counter": 334,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
},
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1407756,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407756/?format=api",
"text_counter": 335,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "bills for recurrent. You only find pending bills for development. Therefore, county governments must take it very seriously, especially when it comes to their own source revenue. Finally, when I last stood here, I said that governments have perpetuity. Some counties have had two or more governors. For example, Nyeri and Kiambu counties have had more than three while Nyandarua has had three governors. The moment the first governor left office, the second governor when he took over, established a pending bills verification committee. Now, if you have looked at all your pending bills, all of them and processed, you have a list of eligible pending bills and another list here of ineligible pending bills. If you have accepted that this is an eligible pending bill, why do you not pay it? I was asking here and I have been asking the same question in CPAC where I serve as a Member, for a murram road that was done in the year 2013, and that one sits in your books as pending bills, how do you send the auditors to confirm whether that road exists or not? Now, with this kind of flooding we are experiencing in the country, both murram and main tarmac roads are being washed away. What would become of a 12- year-old murram road? We all know a pending bill is money that somebody has rendered a service to the Government using his own money, but the Government has not paid him. People take loans and die. It is becoming catastrophic to do business with counties. It is the least fashionable unless the governor is your brother, cousin, boyfriend, girlfriend or husband for that matter, because you will be paid. It is difficult to do business with counties because there are two things. First, to even get that job, you have to know the governor very well. More importantly, to get paid for that job or service that you have rendered to that county government becomes very difficult. As I wind up, it is not just about saying that pending bills are a first charge. The Controller of Budget (CoB) must help by insisting to governors that before they approve payment of new bills, there must be a roadmap of what they have done with the pending bills. Since 2014, the days of Dr. Edward Ouko, the Auditor-General at that time, he did an audit on the pending bills for all the counties. He gave them a report on the pending bills that they were supposed to honour. Some of those who were there in 2014, 10 years later, to this minute, have not been paid. The CoB ought to help us in ensuring that the approval of all the requisitions that have been made by county governments in terms of settlement of pending bills. It should be chronological in a matter of the age of that bill. What is the sense of you getting paid for a job or a service that you rendered last year and a person who rendered the same service six years ago is not getting paid? Why are you jumping the queue? Is it because campaigned for, or have any relationship with the governor? That should not be the case. It should not be a death sentence or suicide to offer services to county governments. As we deliberate on these pending bills, for example, Nyandarua County, has a very huge pending bill on Ol Kalou Stadium which its construction started in 2013 the year I joined the university. I was in the university for four years, graduated and got married. I am now a father and Senator yet, a person who rendered the services when I"
},
{
"id": 1407757,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407757/?format=api",
"text_counter": 336,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
},
"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1407758,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407758/?format=api",
"text_counter": 337,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
},
"content": "was at the university has not been paid. Now auditors are being asked to verify whether the grass was planted on that stadium in 2015. What are we doing to our counties? What are we doing to our resources? If the people of Nyandarua County have never had an opportunity to use Ol Kalou stadium, where is prudence in the usage of the resources? How do we say that the people of Nyandarua County are benefiting from facility? It is not just about pumping money into a project. It is about pumping money into a project that is helpful to the people. People should be able to say that they can truly see their Kshs100 million or Kshs200 million; not on the books, not in the radio, not in speeches, but by utilizing that particular facility. They should point at JM Hospital and say, “this hospital has got about Kshs500 million and that is why we are getting this kind of service.” I support that the National Treasury must do something, but most importantly, the CoB must put her foot forward. In the Constitution, there was a reason why the office of the CoB was created. It was to help us in terms of answering some of these questions. No money is drawn from the County Revenue Fund (CRF) without the direct nod of the CoB. The person who has the gate valve of money going to counties is the CoB. If the CoB rejects a requisition that has been done by the counties, that would be the only route of ensuring that we force, if we must, county governments and devolved units to honour their dues."
},
{
"id": 1407759,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407759/?format=api",
"text_counter": 338,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
"speaker_title": "The Deputy Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13590,
"legal_name": "Murungi Kathuri",
"slug": "murungi-kathuri"
},
"content": " Thank you, Sen. Methu. Sen. Cherarkey, you have the Floor."
},
{
"id": 1407760,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407760/?format=api",
"text_counter": 339,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
"slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I support this Motion on pending bill brought by one of my lustrous Members of the Committee. I was taking notes literally, impressed with the grasp of the issues."
}
]
}