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{
    "id": 1051816,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1051816/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 53,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kibiru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13196,
        "legal_name": "Charles Reubenson Kibiru",
        "slug": "charles-reubenson-kibiru"
    },
    "content": "would argue that they need not borrow to put money lying in accounts. However, at the same time we also observed that there are counties that are unable to make quick absorption of the resources that are sent to them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, further, we said that the National Treasury should fast-track processing and submission of public finance management and Equalization Fund regulations. We learnt that these regulations are lying somewhere with the Cabinet. It is high time, as we wait for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), we get them to approve the regulations. There is lack of compliance to the requirements for development spending. The 30 per cent mandatory requirement for development funds in the counties is not being achieved in most of the counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, each county government should also take stock of all its pension liabilities. One of the things that came up and keeps coming up is that county governments owe the pension schemes about Kshs26 billion. Even if counties rationalize their staff and probably do an early retirement so that they can improve on efficiency by bringing more versatile staff to replace them, it becomes very difficult to do that if the pension funds are not there for the officers going out because they have to be compensated as per the law. We urge the counties to come up on how they can meet that the requirements of the Bill. The CRA should map up projects and programmes in the national budget which are devolved as stated in the Fourth Schedule. The National Treasury should further come up with a plan to transfer the functions and their resources to the county governments. Mr. Speaker, Sir, eight years down the line even when we have very clear functions that have been devolved, we still have Nairobi. By Nairobi I mean the ministries retaining a lot of money with certain functions that are supposed to be executed. I believe counties have come of age. If we put in place the right structures that we have been trying to put in the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) and other endeavors, counties should be in charge of their activities. That was the intention of devolution. We need to support that as a Senate. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the National Treasury should carry out an evaluation of the Financial Year 2021/2022 in terms of the performance and achievements of conditional grants finance from the national Government and share of revenue to determine whether the intended policy objectives have been achieved. This evaluation report should be submitted to the Senate within the next four months. We cannot improve what we cannot measure. For us to make continuous improvement, we must keep on measuring and putting down what we need to do and what is required. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we recommended that in order to ensure that there is no further accumulation of pending bills, we should put more emphasis in the amendment of the Public Finance Management Act. It must be first in first out. We still have pending bills for the Financial Year 2014/2015. You will see people being paid because they delivered last week. For purposes of tidiness on how we conduct business, we should stop enjoying suppliers‘ credit. That is why probably the BBI is pushing for the Prompt Payment Bill. I am not campaigning for BBI, but I think those are the benefits, Sen. Wambua. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}