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{
"id": 1077240,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1077240/?format=api",
"text_counter": 100,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Amb. Ukur Yatani",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury and Planning",
"speaker": null,
"content": "requirements. In order to actualise this initiative, 31st December 2021 will be the final date for rolling out the electronic government procurement system and, therefore, discontinuation of the manual procurement processes. In this regard, the Government will realise savings as a result of greater efficiency, reduce operational costs and enhance transparency and accountability through increased bidding participation. To support our local contractors and undertake the construction of infrastructural projects, we have proposed changes to the contracting framework through the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Bill, 2020. The Bill before this House proposes among others to allow award of contract to multiple bidders. This, indeed, will support local firms and accelerate delivery of services. Given the prevailing business environment which had adverse impact of COVID-19 Pandemic, there is an urgent need to evaluate the financial position and governance of key state corporations and institutions. It is in this respect that the Government is exploring targeted reforms to strengthen these institutions, including public universities. In the interim, the Government provided financial support to strategic institutions including Kenya Airways, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), and Postal Corporation of Kenya, which were in dire need of cash to meet critical obligations. Hon. Speaker, we have developed a robust information management system to strengthen the statutory role of the National Treasury in financial and operational oversight as well as the financial risk analysis for state corporations. You may recall that the Government introduced cost sharing in public universities in the year 1991. At that time, Government funding to public universities per year was set at Kshs120,000 per student. Of this, the Government capitation per student was Kshs70,000 while the student contributed Kshs50,000 through loan funding from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), out of which Kshs16,000 catered for tuition fees. This is less than half of tuition fees paid currently by students in various colleges of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions. The ideal cost of training a student in the university has increased from Ksh120,000 to about Ksh200,000 per year. Therefore, the prevailing funding arrangement introduced in 1991 is unsustainable. Under the current arrangement, universities have not only experienced financial constraints, but have also been unable to continuously honour their statutory obligations. In order to ensure sustainability and self-reliance of public universities, the Ministry of Education is expected to engage stakeholders beginning July 2021 with a view to addressing the matter. Hon. Speaker, delays in payment of pending bills to businesses who provide services to both national Government and county governments has affected liquidity and operations of these entities. In a number of cases, this has led to closure of businesses and affected livelihoods of the suppliers. Though progress was made in settlement of these bills by the National Government, we still have challenges with the county governments that still owe various suppliers huge amounts. In this regard, I direct Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the county governments to clear all their pending bills by 30th June 2021. I urge this House to support our efforts towards enforcing compliance in payment of all verified pending bills by the county governments by backing our proposal under Article 225 of the Constitution of Kenya to temporarily stop transfers to county governments that persistently fail to comply with the directive to clear pending bills. Hon. Speaker, the financial sector has remained stable and continue to make significant contributions to the economic growth. Our commercial banks continue to expand their businesses to the neighbouring markets, including recent acquisitions in the Democratic Republic of Congo 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."
}