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{
"id": 1407763,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1407763/?format=api",
"text_counter": 342,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
"slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
},
"content": "of the County Assembly (MCAs) to Kaimosi the other day. He told them that the county could not develop in this financial year because of pending bills amounting to Kshs850 million. However, when you look at this schedule, Nandi County had pending bills amounting to Kshs306,553,678 as of June last year. Governors are taking advantage. The reality on the ground, as they say, 'vitu kwa ground, ni tofauti,' it is Kshs305 million. What was the intention of the difference of Kshs850 million and Kshs305 million? This is a way to misappropriate the funds. The MCAs do not have a way of verifying. There is also a misnomer. I want to chant the charge in the Constitution Petition E003 of 2023 in Kitale High Court. Allow me to quote the High Court that ruled that governors do not have the power to form verification committees on pending bills. It is the exclusive domain of the office of the Auditor-General to verify the pending bills in this country. This matter was canvassed, heard, and determined by the Kitale High Court in Petition E003 of 2023. For instance, a governor may not like the face of the Senator for Vihiga County, Sen. Osotsi, and declare his pending bills ineligible. When they like your face, they declare the bill legible to be paid. I thank the Kitale High Court for this declaration. They deserve to be applauded. Governors would resume office, verify the pending bills, and declare some fake and others genuine so that they can 'eat, ' as John Githongo said in his book, 'It Is Our Turn toEat .' The user paraphrase that is common among the Mount Kenya people. I know you are conversant being a Njuri Ncheke. They say that even if your mother is old, she is still your mother. This is what the governors have been using to plunder, pilferage, larceny and corruption at the expense of our people. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank my professor who taught me civil litigation at Moi University at the FLB/2201, Professor Nixon Sifuna. He ruled the other day that if a county government or a State agency fails to pay you, for instance, Parliament, you attach its property. I would like to inform Kenyans suffering because of the county governments. If they see a vehicle for the county government of Meru and they have your debt, clump it, take it to the market, sell it, and recover the debt. This is the only language they will understand. In Nandi County, for example, if there is anybody who has supplied resources and used their money, should they spot the governor's car with the flag, stop, freeze, seize and sell it in an auction, do the recovery proceedings, and pay themselves. This is the reasoning behind Prof. Nixon's sifuna. I know that this wisdom is highly sought after. I am willing to provide the full citation of Prof. Nixon Sifuna's ruling to Members. This is why some of us questioned the opening and operationalization of Bunge Tower without paying for the certificate that had been raised. One day, we will wake up to find somebody with a bigger chain than what Sen. Okiya Omtatah used to chain himself at Milimani Law Courts at the doors of Bunge Tower. That is the reason Prof. Nixon Sifuna determined this matter because of the situation faced by our people. How can you explain that the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), which existed for two years, has a pending bill of Kshs14.5 billion?"
}