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"speaker_name": "Sen. Kibiru",
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"content": "into account. The more they publish, the more we ask, the more they will become accountable. We are recommending that they do that with immediate effect. Madam Deputy Speaker, lastly, in addressing the recurrence of commitment fee, the National Treasury should renegotiate and dispatch loans with the aim of either cancelling or disbursing loans. We can comfortably ask the institutions that have lent us. It happens even in businesses when they are not doing well and are defaulting on loans and when you want to make a bullet payment, you can negotiate for a haircut. If the Government or the National Treasury are not able to, this country has intelligent experts who can negotiate for them. Let them not just sit there, saying it is not possible. Let them consult. Probably Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr can do it on pro bono basis so that we able to negotiate those contracts. Madam Deputy Speaker, they can do it through suspending the commitment fee clause to give time for the Government to address factors that affected the loan disbursement. In negotiations, you can go to a financial institution, especially now that we have a pandemic; and say that now that we have been unable to do all those things, why do you not suspend the commitment fees for period? Those are avenues that the ladies and gentlemen at the National Treasury should not take lightly, but need to deal with them. Madam Deputy Speaker, the National Treasury should desist from undertaking projects or entering into loan agreements that could lead to payment of commitment fees. Secondly, provide for mechanisms to deter the incurrence of commitment fees into the future. Moving forward, unless we are sure that we have the project and we are ready to start, why would we want to commit ourselves to some commitments that are not healthy and are not helping this country? Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a bit controversial and Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. does not agree with it, but let us debate about it. A recommendation was made here that the National Assembly and the Senate should constitute a joint committee to review and improve the legal framework underpinning use of public finances in Kenya. The committee should undertake wide sectoral engagement in order to strengthen and revitalize the physical management framework against rising and evolving public finance management malpractices. I thank our researchers in our secretariat. They carried out research on best practices and that enabled us to make that kind of a recommendation. The only problem is whether the ‘lower’ House, our noisy neighbours will be willing to sit with us and we guide them on how to go about these issues. Madam Deputy Speaker, given the constrained physical space, all accounting officers should prioritize the consolidation and protection of available financial resources from misappropriation in order to enhance efficacy and effectiveness of the budget implementation. These are some of the recommendations that we have made. We have also made a number of recommendations in the amendment of the PFM Act. I do not know where the Bill is. As a Committee, when we could not proceed with the National Assembly PFM Act amendments, we decided to come up with our amendment Bill. It has also touched some of the areas that we are recommending here so that we can put them in the principal law. Madam Deputy Speaker, with those few words, I beg to move and request Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. of Makueni County to second the Motion."
}