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{
    "id": 1091009,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1091009/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1222,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "that are prescribed in the Prompt Payment Act. What is not prescribed in the Prompt Payment Act which I think that my dear brother Sen. Sakaja ought to do it first is the issue of paying interests by a government agency that fails to pay a contractor on time. My biggest problem with this issue of delayed payments has got to do with the trickledown effect. When a Government agency fails to pay a contractor, that contractor does not pay the subcontractor. It trickles down and affects an economy of the county or even the country. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is sad that counties are procuring services from vendors and contractors knowing they do not have a budget. Most county and national governments are led by politicians. So, they may want to appease their people that they are actually bringing in development, when we know that they are not. What they are doing is killing the economy. It is sad. Some of these things should be made criminal. I propose to Sen. Sakaja that he should do a first in the world. These Government entities should now start paying interest because most of us take loans from financial institutions. This is a commercial transaction, but governments are not penalized an interest. I think it is about time that just like the way Government entities charge us interest when we delay to remit our statutory deductions, that should also apply to Government agencies that do not pay contractors when payments are due. I do not see the reason why Government agencies should continue to enjoy the monopoly where they owe you money and can choose to pay you in 10 years. We should all be uniform because they have chosen to procure a service. They have said they have money. If they do not have it, they should not be allowed to procure. For us to be more effective and for this Bill to make sense when it becomes an Act of Parliament, I think we now need to ensure that even the Controller of Budget (CoB) and the National Treasury are part of the entire process. If you read the current Insurance Act and the Human Resource Management handbook and Articles 233 and 237, it gives the National Treasury the power to withhold money from entities that do not provide health and life insurance cover to their employees. This is mostly in the public service. Soon, I will be bringing a statement to this effect. Madam Temporary Speaker, you find many teachers who do not have riba or health or life insurance. The National Treasury has the power to stop the money of an entity from being disbursed if they do not show in their budget that they have covered all their employees. Sen. Sakaja should now look at introducing an amendment that before the CoB releases any money to county governments, they must show that they have paid 100 per cent of their Bills. I have always been on record saying there is no reason why a county government should have a pending bill. You procure and you have a budget. You cannot just come out of the blues with a budget which you do not have money to fund and proceed to procure. County assemblies should also play their role. They should ensure that the budget they approve is equivalent to the money that either the Senate has sent to county governments or their own source revenue. To make sure this Prompt Payment Bill becomes more effective in helping the business community, the CoB and the National"
}