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{
    "id": 1218888,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1218888/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 31,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I do not want to contribute to the Petition. I want to respond to the pertinent issues that have been raised by Hon. John Mbadi on the processing of petitions. However, we must be careful so that we are not seen as if we are curtailing the work of any committee that has already begun business. All the committees of this House function and work on its behalf. I believe that the Petition you have just read will most likely end up in the Public Petitions Committee which is new. Therefore, there are issues that we will continue to polish up even within our Standing Orders, so that we create boundaries. The issue raised by Hon. John Mbadi, as he said, is already out there in the public domain. The Public Petitions Committee has this particular Petition by Mr Stephen Mutoro who is a spirited public advocate on matters to do with consumer welfare. When he sent it to the House, it was committed to the Public Petitions Committee. If I remember well, it was either at the beginning of December or in November last year. The House went on recess soon after. The committees were yet to be inducted. It is only in this session of Parliament that committees have really begun working on Petitions and all issues that are before them. Therefore, as I speak, the matter is properly before the Public Petitions Committee. That does not in any way exclude the Public Accounts Committee from considering the issues that will be raised by an audit report when the Auditor-General does his audit of those expenditures. Hon. Speaker, it must not also be lost on us that Mr Stephen Mutoro sought to have a Petition to look into expenditures paid out under Article 223 of the Constitution. Last week, we approved the Supplementary Appropriations Bill which has already been assented to in the Supplementary Appropriations Act. Out of that Supplementary Appropriations Bill, you remember payments to the tune of about Ksh120 billion have, indeed, been approved by this House. I remember the payments of about Ksh14 billion were disapproved by the Budget and Appropriations Committee and subsequently, the House agreed on the disapproval of those payments. Naturally, those payments will at some point end up in the Public Accounts Committee since they were disapproved. The Public Petitions Committee yesterday jolted the country. When I stood in my place about two weeks ago and said that this country was being looted dry in the run-up to the last election, people thought we were politicking. Of course, we are politicians, but we must not be scared of dealing with issues that are pertinent to the livelihoods of the Kenyan people. The Public Accounts Committee can, indeed, and will only consider matters to be investigated as and when an audit is done by the office of the Auditor-General. We know that the office of the Auditor-General will carry out its audit at the end of the financial year. These are payments The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}