HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=144629",
"previous": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=144627",
"results": [
{
"id": 1464472,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464472/?format=api",
"text_counter": 353,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Buuri, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Office of the Auditor-General is very central in managing the utilisation of resources that various Government ministries have been entrusted with. Before I accept or not, the Auditor-General is supposed to be holier than thou. This is an institution that is not supposed to be found to have any fault whatsoever and is also supposed to advise on the best performance and utilisation of the resources that various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been given. The Auditor-General is supposed to identify gaps and make recommendations on how to cover them. We rely on the Auditor-General’s Report to flush out corruption in various Government and quasi-government institutions. We expect the Auditor-General to make recommendations and commendations that are not only limited to financial aspects but also processes, including procurement. They are also supposed to advise Government on conformity to international standards of audits. Much as I agree with the Report of the Committee, it has fallen short of one fundamental requirement in the procurement processes. Only two entities brought forward their bid, and one of them, just like what Hon. (Dr) Oundo said, lacked some fundamental documents. I still have to get the specific recommendation that the Committee made convincing us that process of procurement was adhered to. If they convince us that they did not have adequate time, I will say that they are auditing the Reports for Financial Years 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25, meaning they are dying. This institution called Office of the Auditor-General is central, and anything that is associated with it must not give an iota of…"
},
{
"id": 1464473,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464473/?format=api",
"text_counter": 354,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Hon. (Dr) John K Mutunga walked along the aisle)"
},
{
"id": 1464474,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464474/?format=api",
"text_counter": 355,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13328,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
"slug": "jeremiah-omboko-milemba"
},
"content": " Order Hon. Mugambi. Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, ordinarily, when you are moving in the House, you do not move between an Hon. Member who is speaking and Hon. Speaker. Take note of that. You may proceed, Hon. Mugambi."
},
{
"id": 1464475,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464475/?format=api",
"text_counter": 356,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Buuri, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you Hon. Temporary Speaker. He is very familiar with me, maybe sometimes I become invisible. This is an institution that should not be seen to be associated with anything touching on irregularities. I have no interest in M/s PKF Kenya LLP or any other, but what they are going to do is to give a record of performance of the office of the Auditor-General. Ordinarily, we would have three or four presentations by bidders for comparison purposes. Every Kenyan today is talking about transparency, accountability and openness in our doings. The same Auditor-General is being quoted by Members of this House and the public out there that so many things are going wrong within the Government, quasi- government institutions and state corporations. I am sure if we all look at the Auditor-General’s report even on the NG-CDF for each constituency, we find elements of non-professionalism where recommendations are given but the way forward is not stated. An example is where the Auditor-General comes with a statement that the NG-CDF has not provided receipts from bursaries. However, they did not go to the institution to confirm whether the bursaries were received. As they were looking for the receipts, it was not in their interest to go to that institution to confirm whether the money was disbursed. They end up giving a report that brings political problems to the Members of Parliament. Therefore, when I see this kind of recommendation, I wonder if it is not purposefully manufactured to condemn the same institution that we are saying is as white as snow. 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."
},
{
"id": 1464476,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464476/?format=api",
"text_counter": 357,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Buuri, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my friend, the Vice-Chairman of the Committee who is our senior, and Hon. John Mbadi and other Hon. Members for their observations. However, this is single sourcing by definition. We can say the bid was non- responsive. I expected the Committee to come up with a report that says it was non-responsive, unless you want to tell us there are no other qualified auditors in this country to audit the Auditor-General."
},
{
"id": 1464477,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464477/?format=api",
"text_counter": 358,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Buuri, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, we had the same report by the same company last year. So, what are we telling Kenyans? We have the same report that we present to the House for two consecutive years. I think something is not right. I do not know how this issue tripped the Vice- Chairman, a man who is a very sharp thinker as well as the Hon. Chairman, a qualified accountant. I disagree with this Report."
},
{
"id": 1464478,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464478/?format=api",
"text_counter": 359,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Buuri, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1464479,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464479/?format=api",
"text_counter": 360,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13328,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
"slug": "jeremiah-omboko-milemba"
},
"content": " Very well. Hon. Danson Mwashako."
},
{
"id": 1464480,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464480/?format=api",
"text_counter": 361,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker for, giving me an opportunity to contribute to this important Motion on the Report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the Procurement of External Auditor to offer services to the office of the Auditor-General for the Financial Years 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025. From the outset, the Office of the Auditor-General is very important in the management of financial resources of this country. We must underscore the importance of this office to the level that it plays a very central role in supporting what this august House does. We are the biggest consumers of the reports of the Auditor-General. We cannot purport to be doing our oversight role effectively if the quality of the auditor’s reports that come to this House are questionable. Therefore, as an accountant, I understand the challenges that this office goes through. I sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee and we have met the Auditor-General many times. She comes in to tell us her challenges and what she needs to do to make sure that they bring timely reports to this House. As Parliament, we have been doing very well. We have been increasing the annual budgets every year. This financial year, we have allocated the Auditor- General a whooping Ksh8.12 billion so that the office is able to run all its activities and programmes and give us audit reports in good time. I am expectant that the Auditor-General will do a good job. They will be able to give us reports on time because we also know that we have constitutional provisions that rely on audit reports. We know, for instance, the calculation of the 15 per cent equitable share to counties relies on the latest audited accounts as provided to this House by the Auditor-General and approved by this House. Equally, the 2.5 per cent that is supposed to go to NG-CDF relies on the latest audited accounts that are provided by the Auditor-General. They come to this House for approval. Equally, the 0.5 per cent Equalisation Fund relies on what the Auditor-General does. Hon. Temporary Speaker, since this Parliament has done its bit by allocating resources to the Auditor-General, we expect them to provide quality and timely reports to the House and to Kenyans. After looking at the Report, I also want to say that PAC did a good job. The Vice- Chairman has done a good job in bringing it to the Floor and moving it. A procurement process that only raises two bidders in many aspects can raise eyebrows. The question we need to ask is why the many audit firms we have in this country fear to audit the Auditor-General and the reasons behind them choosing not to bid for this lucrative job. Truth be told; the winner of this bid makes a lot of money. However, you wonder why most of the reputable audit firms are not bidding for this job. This raises concerns that this Committee needs to look at. We may pass this Report for now but going forward, it should be clear. We should come up with a recommendation to have a minimum number of bidders, say five, such 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."
},
{
"id": 1464481,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464481/?format=api",
"text_counter": 362,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
"speaker": null,
"content": "that if it does not meet the required number we decline at very early stages. The PKF has been auditing the Auditor-General for some time now. Therefore, it looks like we may never change the auditor to the Auditor-General because he will be the only one who will be bidding and maybe one other that may not be as reputable and up to the standard we want. I, therefore, urge the Hon. Chairman and the Mover of this Motion to seek guidance on this matter. In future, let us not bring a report of this nature where we have only one bidder who looks like he is serious and the other one who looks like he is a seconder. Having said that, I also want to add my voice on what my colleagues have said. We expect quality reports from the Auditor-General. When I was doing accounts, we were told that every organization needs to pursue or look forward to getting unqualified auditor’s opinion. All the reports from the Auditor-General that come to this House are qualified. They go to audit counties and bring here advanced opinion of some counties. To some extent, even disclaimer opinions have come to this House. What I am saying is that the Auditor-General also needs to give a report on why in two years, none of the constituencies or counties has ever received an unqualified opinion. Public servants, state officials, leaders and CEOs of parastatals, managing directors, governors and those who run funds like the NG-CDF need to pursue an unqualified auditor’s opinion. However, we receive opinions here that already show that there is a problem in how we manage our financial resources as a country. Therefore, as we get an auditor to audit the Office of the Auditor-General, we are looking forward to the report that will come here. I know PKF has also been getting work from the Auditor-General to do special audits. The PKF has also got jobs for performance audit in some cases. Therefore, we must also investigate the conflict of interest. If PKF should be auditing the Office of the Auditor-General, they should cease to take any job from the Auditor-General so that there is no conflict of interest. I imagine that PKF may give an unqualified opinion because it knows that this is a client and not only a client, but it knows that it will still get more jobs through the same client. We, therefore, need to separate issues here. If we honestly want to get quality reports and get an auditor who will look on the actual happenings in our financial management in parastatals and in Government, then the auditor who audits the Office of the Auditor-General must not be, at the same time, auditing books of parastatals and Government agencies. While auditing the Office of the Auditor- General, they can sit at a table and say, “I will give you an unqualified report because you will continue giving me jobs on this side.”"
}
]
}