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{
    "id": 1169257,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1169257/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 248,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "project. That project should be finished within six or eight months so that our people can get value for their money. I think that has been the greatest challenge that we have been facing. On the issue of pending bills, this issue of projects has brought a very big challenge of pending bills. As we talk, county governments pending bills are approaching Kshs120 billion. We have argued in this House and there was even a National Treasury circular on how we can ensure that this issue of pending bills is resolved once and for all. The sad part is that most of these people who are doing county projects and county tenders are people who have nothing. Most of them are women, people living with disabilities and the youth that are using Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) to borrow bank loans to finance a county project but they are yet to be paid five years, two years, one year down the line and yet some of their projects have been completed. I think the proposal is that, in future, we use e-procurement and ensure that there is money through IFMIS. The IFMIS must be linked with e-procurement so that by the time a county awards a tender, that money must be present. If it is an ECDE classroom that has been budgeted at Kshs800,000, the IFMIS must be linked with the e-procurement so that if somebody is given a tender there is money for payment. That is how we will be able to fix the issue of pending bills. Even in Kisumu County or any other county like Nandi, Mandera, Marsabit counties, there is somebody somewhere who took a loan from a bank, worked on a county project and they have never been paid two, three years down the line. That person is depressed. The bank has confiscated the security that was used to secure that loan. It is very unfortunate. Most of them are the people who earn hand to mouth and they are struggling or they are called the famous hustlers. Finally, on the recommendation, I think on several occasions as my Vice Chairperson has indicated, we have agreed through consensus but those issues have been captured. We have tried on issues like documentation. It is common in all the 47 counties. We have tried in giving a generic answer to such situations unless they are unique situations. Finally, is the recommendation on the issue of EACC. We do not have an implementation committee. I remember there was a time we wanted to push for an Implementation Committee. We need some of these issues that we recommend to be picked by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and that is why we have an EACC officer who is attached to the Committee to ensure that if there is public money that has been lost and Senate has recommended prosecution and recovery of that money, the agencies like EACC must act."
}