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{
    "id": 1161482,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1161482/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 78,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "to be looked at. We cannot run away from that because people must have food and shelter. Overall, if you look at what has happened in the last three years, it has made it possible for this Government to make some kind of achievements in a climate or environment of peace. I hope that the debt incurred by the Government in making it possible for us to have appropriate infrastructure will be paid back. One of the projects that is underway is to make sure that there is a dual carriageway from Nairobi up to Nakuru and beyond. I hope that goes on up to Kisumu and Malaba. My friend from Nandi County will find it easier to go to Nandi if we have a dual carriageway between Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Malaba. These things do not just happen. They require planning and happily, we can say without fear of contradiction that some of the things that are happening during the Jubilee Government - the good ones- were planned during the Grand Coalition Government but they wasted five years thinking about 2022. Now that 2022 has come, we can see the panic that is driving some people crazy. Madam Temporary Speaker, if you look at the allocation of resources that are going to the counties, in terms of the constitutional requirements, it is commendable because it is 26.17 percent of the revenue raised nationally. This percentage is of the last audited accounts for financial year, 2017/2018. What about if there was financial years 2018 /2019, 2019 /2020 or 2021/2022? Without even talking about the amount that is going to the counties Kshs370 billion; in my estimation the counties should be getting close to Kshs600 billion. Just imagine a good percentage of that going to West Pokot County. You can provide a lot of essential services particularly if the budgeting and procurement process is done right. There are statutory requirements under the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act on the amount of money that can be used for development and recurrent expenditure. The counties would be in a stable financial situation if governors also managed those funds properly. We must also take some of the blame because Parliament, particularly the National Assembly, is required to play a role. We need to put more pressure to ensure that we either go by the current or accounts of the last financial year. If it has to be the last audited accounts, then the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) and relevant parliamentary committees must make sure that Parliament does not delay auditing of public accounts for more than two financial years. This is because, as you can see quite clearly, there has been a delay in auditing the accounts of the past four financial years, which then puts the counties at a disadvantage. Instead of getting more money, they are getting less. Having said that, if the counties are getting less, then it means the national Government gets more. With those extra resources they have, if used prudently or if on its own volition, the Government made a choice of making these funds available to the counties, we would have not just governance units but strong devolved economies in terms of counties. Having talked about the issue of public debt and the disadvantages of delaying auditing of public accounts, the other thing I would like to briefly talk about is the"
}