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{
    "id": 1336731,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1336731/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwingi Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Mulyungi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "First is on bursary funds. The Committee observed some incidences of non-presentation of issued bursary cheques to institutions and delays in presenting acknowledgment documents upon receipt of bursaries. Hon. Temporary Speaker, you will recall that there was an alarming report in the news that over Ksh2 billion was lost in bursary allocations. That report was erroneous because the bottom line was that there were no acknowledgment documents presented to the NG-CDF. If an NG-CDF office is in Lamu and you write a cheque to Kisumu, you cannot take the cheque to Kisumu and collect a receipt to keep in the office. Therefore, the Committee recommended that the NG-CDF Board should develop an overarching bursary policy framework with a mechanism for both manual and electronic funds transfer in the disbursement of bursary cheques. Beneficiary institutions should issue acknowledgment documents upon receipt of the cheques. In addition, the Committee directed auditors to verify bank statements for transactions where receipts are unavailable. Second is on reallocation and use of emergency funds. The Committee observed that some projects funded using emergency funds did not meet the threshold set out in Sections 6(2) and 8 of the NG-CDF Act of 2015. The Committee recommended that the NG-CDF Board should ensure that fund account managers comply with provisions of Sections 6(2) and 8 of the NG-CDF Act of 2015. Third is on pending ongoing projects. The Committee observed that the critical cause of pending ongoing projects, which was common in all constituencies, was inadequate allocation of funds for projects with the hope of completing projects in subsequent financial years. The Committee recommended that: 1. The Board should, with immediate effect, discourage the partial allocation of funds to projects and ensure that all projects are completed within two financial years. Further, the NG-CDF Committee should ensure that proper costing of projects is done in consultation with the relevant Government departments to ensure realistic cost estimates. 2. The NG-CDF Board should come up with a realistic policy framework for costing projects for each constituency by the end of the First Quarter of the Financial Year 2023/2024. That should be informed by the cost of materials and transportation, taxes, the topography of each constituency, and the reports from the relevant Government departments. Fourth is on the link between the office of the Auditor-General and fund account managers. The Committee observed that there was poor co-ordination between the office of the Auditor-General and fund account managers, particularly regarding timely response to audit queries. The Committee further observed that there was need for the NG-CDF Board to inform fund account managers across the country to promptly respond to audit queries. While examining the reports, we realised that some fund managers were responding to queries of the 2012/2013 Financial Year when we summoned them in 2023. The Committee further observed that fund account managers did not avail some documents that were subject to examination by the Auditor-General for verification at the time of audit. The documents not availed for audit included cash books, bank statements, payment vouchers, project completion certificates, procurement records, and bills of quantities."
}