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{
    "id": 1184494,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1184494/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 103,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13588,
        "legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
        "slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
    },
    "content": "investment largely comprises water companies while county funds include car loans, mortgage funds, emergency funds, education funds, enterprise funds among others. The office of the Auditor-General has been tabling audit reports of more than 80 water companies and 200 funds in the Senate from 2014 to 2015; that is when devolution started. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a new Committee that was mandated in the 13th Parliament following a resolution made by the Senate in the 12th Parliament to split the then County Public Accounts and Investment Committee (CPAIC) into two Committees. That is, the County Public Accounts (CPAC) and County Public Investment Committee (CPIC). Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to give a brief synopsis of how the split came into being. In the fulfilment of its mandate, the CPAIC invited governors to appear before it to respond to audit queries raised by the Office of the Auditor General. However, at the start of the second Senate, the county governors were hesitant in appearing before CPAIC, asserting that the oversight role with respect to expenditure by the county governments is vested upon the county assemblies in accordance with the provisions of Article 185(3) of the Constitution and further arguing that the governor of a county was not an accounting officer. This matter ended up in court where a ruling was given in favour of the Senate. Following non-appearance by governors before CPAIC at the initial stages of the Senate of the 11th Parliament, there were serious backlogs in the consideration of audit reports. Upon commencement of examination of the reports, the Committee prioritized audit reports of the county executive and county assemblies that had higher fiduciary risk. This meant that there were audit reports of various county investments and funds which were not scrutinized by the Committee yet they had been tabled in the Senate. This is what necessitated the split of the Committee so as to ensure the efficient consideration of audit reports that were tabled in the Senate. Mr. Speaker, Sir, since its inception, the Committee has held of six sittings within the precincts of Parliament to consider matters within its mandate. At its first sitting, the Committee conducted the election of the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson where Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC was elected the Vice-Chairperson and I was elected the Chair. The Committee proceeded to consider its mandate and legislative business before it and it noted that the Office of the Auditor-General had been tabling reports of county investments and funds in the Senate since the financial year 2014/2015 to date, and they had not been considered. The Committee has resolved to expedite the consideration of the audited reports and is in the process of inviting governors to respond to the numerous audit queries raised by the Auditor-General on the following statements: - (1) The Othaya/Mukurweini Water Services Company whom we met today. (2) The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company who are scheduled to appear before us tomorrow."
}