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{
    "id": 1445792,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1445792/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 186,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "charges to the Exchequer, by the various State Departments and Ministries, just like these county governments, is the hiring of offices. All these new buildings that you see coming up all over Upper Hill, are not occupied by the private sector. Ninety per cent of floors are taken by different State Departments, yet they are empty buildings that the Government has built. On Bunyala Road, there is a building that has been an eyesore for close to 20 years, as long as I can remember being an adult in this City. I think it is by the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI). It is a very big building. Twenty or 30 years of building that particular building can house thousands of government employees and save on funds. These are funds that are now causing us to lose lives and destabilize our country because of the scarcity of resources on account of the wastage of public funds. This is one example. There are so many others that will be struggling. Therefore, it is my sincere hope that beyond the call of this report to note the various stages, I hope that we can make other far-reaching decisions. I wish the Committee was moving us to complete a special audit on this building to know how much is left, to put a byline and state that for the sake of stopping the wastage of public resources, in the next allocation we shall grant this county X amount of money to complete this building and we forget about it. Madam Temporary Speaker, what we have done here; pointing out the challenges that exist, is barely scratching the surface. It is my hope that even as we interact and write the kind of reports, in as much as what the committee has done is commendable, I wish they had gone for the kill so that we solve this problem once and for all. Secondly and most importantly, we should look at the other Conditional Grants that we have. These are funds that we devolve and send to the various counties. I challenge colleague Senators who are here this afternoon; go to your county and check the various conditional funds that we send, whether it is the FFLoCA funds or Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP). How many of these specific special funds that we send to counties have completed well-done projects that you can be proud of? Many of these funds end up being wasted, especially because auditing of these specific funds, is under a different purview, separate from the annual audit reports that we receive. I challenge colleague Senators that the next time you visit your County Assemblies, demand from the Members of the County Assembly (MCA) to carry out special audits on these particular funds. Present a report before the citizens of the county on how much of the various Conditional Grants have been received and what projects have been done to completion. It is one thing to commence a project, but it is another thing altogether for citizens to derive value from that project once it is completed. The challenge that we have with this country and what we are being challenged about is the fact that the minute people have procured a project and secured the 10 per cent that comes from it, or whatever cut the procuring officers receive from that particular project, nobody has an interest after that to see what happens with that particular project. They quickly move on to the next project. That is the report that we are reading this afternoon about these particular programmes. Madam Temporary Speaker, perhaps even the motivation in some of these county governments is because people know that a governor who has since retired signed up the contractor. So, they are asking, what is the motivation anyway? Why would I engage this The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}