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{
    "id": 1076998,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1076998/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 204,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kisauni, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mbogo Ali",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13383,
        "legal_name": "Ali Menza Mbogo",
        "slug": "ali-menza-mbogo"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the Consideration of the Budget Estimates for the 2021/2022 Financial Year. First and foremost, I wish to appreciate the good and timely work that was done by the Departmental Committee on Budget and Appropriations. However, yesterday, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) presented a Report here, the Report on the Financial Performance of the Government for the 2017/2018 Financial Year. There were a couple of issues that stood out. One of them was about pending bills. Pending bills have been skyrocketing. This has affected the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Most SMEs have borrowed a big chunk of money from lending institutions. They have used their assets as collateral, but because of the delays from the Government in paying or meeting their financial obligations, most of them have been declared bankrupt, most of them have lost their assets, most of their assets have been auctioned by the lending institutions. We know the role SMEs play in this country. We know the economy is suffering because of the COVID-19 pandemic and there is need to relook into how we can assist SMEs to come out and continue with their normal businesses. Hon. Speaker, the second issue that stood out from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report was about stalled projects in this country. I was shocked to hear that there are billions of shillings that were channeled through the Mitihani House for the last 33 years and to date, that structure has not been completed. Thirty three years is a very long time. This is a project that ought to have been completed many years ago and up to today, we are still allocating more money to such a project. The third issue, and this was well articulated by Hon. Aden Duale, was about the audit report that was done by the Auditor-General. We were told here, on the Floor of the House, that there were 14 State departments whose reports were declared as non-disclaimer, which means that they could not make hold of how they had spent their allocations. This is a matter that the Departmental Committee on Budget and Appropriations needs to consider. From what we were told yesterday, the Departmental Committee on Budget and Appropriations have powers to ensure that these State departments that could not account for whatever they had been allocated do not get any more funding because they could not explain how they had spent their money. So, these are issues that we expect the Departmental Committee on Budget and Appropriations to take into 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."
}