Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1378713,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1378713/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 369,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, immediately after our Committee was constituted, we were handed over a list of 109 parastatals to consider and examine the accounts and financial statements for the various years to synthesise and see how compliant the various parastatals were. We came across 23 parastatals which did not comply with the statutes as it is supposed to be. Hon. Temporary Speaker, as a lawyer, you know that an organisation can be incorporated as a State corporation from three perspectives, namely, Parliament, Executive Order and legal notice. The 23 State corporations had various challenges; including that they still operate under the control of the parent ministries or State departments as directorates. Despite them having a life of their own, they still operate under State departments. Despite the parastatals being on their own, the budgets of some of the State corporations are still managed by the parent ministries or even other State corporations. The other challenge that we encountered, and would want to report to the House, is that some of the State corporations were never operationalised even after their establishing Acts were assented to, and their commencement date realised. Some of the entities operated under the control and management of other State corporations. Article 226 of the Constitution, for the purpose of the House, puts us in three perspectives. It orders that: \"An Act of Parliament shall provide for– 1. The keeping of financial records and the auditing of the accounts of all Government and other public entities and prescribe other measures for securing sufficient and transparent physical management. 2. The designation of an accounting officer in every public entity at the national and county level of government”. Section 2 of the Article lets us know that the accounting officer of a national public entity is accountable to the National Assembly for its financial management. It provides that the accounting officer of a county public entity is accountable to the county assembly for its fiscal management. Section 3 provides that the accounts of the Government and State organs shall be audited by the Auditor-General. That being the case, we read it together with the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, especially Section 68(1), which provides that an accounting officer of a national Government entity, the Parliamentary Service Commission and the Judiciary shall be accountable to the National Assembly for ensuring that the resources of the respective entity for which he or she is the accounting officer are used in a way that is lawful, authorised, effective, efficient, economical and transparent. Section 68(2)(b)(c) and (k) of the Act states that in the performance of a function under Section 68(1), an accounting officer shall ensure that the entity gives financial and accounting records that comply with the Act, ensure that all financial and accounting records the entity keeps in any form, including in electronic form, are adequately protected and backed up and the accounting officer shall prepare annual financial statements for each financial year within three months after the end of a financial 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"
}