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{
    "id": 1076194,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1076194/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 328,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tongaren, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Eseli Simiyu",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 141,
        "legal_name": "David Eseli Simiyu",
        "slug": "david-eseli"
    },
    "content": "For quite a while now, the pending bills issue has become funny. In fact, in the current Report, it shows that the pending bills have rocketed up by 178 per cent. That means that the pending bills right now, if that was the year of review, then by now, the pending bills have gone up. This way, we are killing the economy because those people who are held by the entities that procured their services are business people. Once they are denied money, they possibly cannot carry on their business as expected. That has a negative impact on the economy of the country. Another area that we looked at which was very interesting was the so-called Equalisation Fund. It is a fiasco in the sense that since its inception, only 36 per cent of it has ever been disbursed to any area that is supposed to receive the Equalisation Fund. That defeats the purpose of that constitutional mandate in the sense that the Equalisation Fund was supposed to ensure that the marginalised areas, and those that have been neglected for a long time, are given opportunity to grow and catch up with the rest of the country. When there is such a delay or complete non- disbursement of the Equalisation Fund, that is a breach of the Constitution. Perhaps, this House needs to get serious, and especially get the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury to disburse these funds. We should name him for breach of the Constitution because this matter cannot be talked about year in year out and nothing is done about it. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the other matter that I would like to talk about is the National Land Commission (NLC). The NLC appears to be a conduit for looting public resources. Their actions clearly show that perhaps we should relook at how we set up the National Land Commission and its mandate. At the rate that they are going, paying money at astronomical figures for land and you cannot tell the entities they have paid to and things like those, something needs to be done at the NLC. Either the new team needs to clean up the house or perhaps the Departmental Committee on Lands needs to relook at the operations of the NLC Act, and if necessary, bring amendments to the Act that operationalised it, so that we make proper changes that will make the Commission more accountable than what it is at the moment. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is interesting that within the public service, we have highly trained people in finance and accounting, but their actions do not reflect this training. Definitely, it is a deliberate act of omission or commission on their side which is leading to loss of public funds. None other than His Excellency the President has said that Kenya is losing billions on a daily basis. We have pointed out the areas where this is happening. As a House, we need to relook at some of these laws, especially the Public Procurement and Disposal Act. Perhaps, it is too convoluted such that people can make decisions that do not favour the public purse. With those few remarks, I wish to second. I thank you. 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."
}