HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1016180,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1016180/?format=api",
"text_counter": 207,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": "remember the movie by Clint Eastwood - we literally encountered the good, the bad and the ugly. We had witnesses who were excessively arrogant, rude and did not even care that this House can investigate them. However, we came up with a report that I would like to urge every Member to read, understand and appreciate. This is because as leaders of your delegations, Senators must appreciate that counties are being taxed at source. A small county like Lamu is paying the same amount of money as a big county like Nairobi; Kshs200 million per county per year. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the course of the investigations, there was a spirited attempt by the Ministry of Health to tell the Committee that this money does not belong to the counties; it belongs to the national Government. The Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Finance and the National Treasury, Hon. Ukur Yatani, appeared before the Committee - and I thank him for this – and said these monies are conditional grants to the county governments, and once you give conditional grants, they become money for the counties. They do not remain to be monies for the National Government. Thirdly, under Section 109 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, every Conditional Grant given to counties must be deposited in the County Revenue Fund (CRF) account. Mr. Speaker, Sir, not a single shilling on the MES project has ever been deposited in the CRF account. The money is retained and appropriated at the Ministry of Health in a very opaque manner. For example, when we questioned Phillips Medial Systems, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, they told us that the money they are paid for providing the stethoscope, the oldest medical equipment you can find, is Kshs5,000. However, the Ministry of Health is levying from counties over Kshs1.6 million for a stethoscope. Phillips Medical Systems said that they are receiving the value of what they have provided, but the Ministry is taking over Kshs1.6 million for a stethoscope of Kshs5,000. Where does the difference of the money go? There is no explanation. When you look at the MES project - and we had experts who did the calculations - Senators would know that if this project was executed honestly, each county would be paying only Kshs31 million per year for the seven years contractual period. Instead, we are paying Kshs95 million, then Kshs200 million and Kshs131 million. We do not even know what we will pay next year, because the figures keep on changing, yet it is a fixed term contract. As the Chair of the Committee has elucidated, so many things went wrong. For example, there is a company called PKF Kenya. This company was contracted by the Ministry of Health to do an awareness and assessment on the viability and readiness of the counties to absorb the MES Project. What happened was like a theatre of the absurd. First of all, the Auditor-General questioned the manner in which they were procured, because they were single-sourced with no explanation. They were then given a job to carry out a needs assessment countrywide. They were to go to Kiambu and check whether they have a theatre, they can take radiology equipment, they have a room where they can keep dialysis machines, enough power to power these machines and water, because you need water for dialysis machines. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is bizarre. The PKF Kenya was contracted to carry out a nationwide needs assessment and they handed back their report to the Ministry in exactly The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}