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{
    "id": 1464480,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1464480/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 361,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wundanyi, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Danson Mwashako",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker for, giving me an opportunity to contribute to this important Motion on the Report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the Procurement of External Auditor to offer services to the office of the Auditor-General for the Financial Years 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025. From the outset, the Office of the Auditor-General is very important in the management of financial resources of this country. We must underscore the importance of this office to the level that it plays a very central role in supporting what this august House does. We are the biggest consumers of the reports of the Auditor-General. We cannot purport to be doing our oversight role effectively if the quality of the auditor’s reports that come to this House are questionable. Therefore, as an accountant, I understand the challenges that this office goes through. I sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee and we have met the Auditor-General many times. She comes in to tell us her challenges and what she needs to do to make sure that they bring timely reports to this House. As Parliament, we have been doing very well. We have been increasing the annual budgets every year. This financial year, we have allocated the Auditor- General a whooping Ksh8.12 billion so that the office is able to run all its activities and programmes and give us audit reports in good time. I am expectant that the Auditor-General will do a good job. They will be able to give us reports on time because we also know that we have constitutional provisions that rely on audit reports. We know, for instance, the calculation of the 15 per cent equitable share to counties relies on the latest audited accounts as provided to this House by the Auditor-General and approved by this House. Equally, the 2.5 per cent that is supposed to go to NG-CDF relies on the latest audited accounts that are provided by the Auditor-General. They come to this House for approval. Equally, the 0.5 per cent Equalisation Fund relies on what the Auditor-General does. Hon. Temporary Speaker, since this Parliament has done its bit by allocating resources to the Auditor-General, we expect them to provide quality and timely reports to the House and to Kenyans. After looking at the Report, I also want to say that PAC did a good job. The Vice- Chairman has done a good job in bringing it to the Floor and moving it. A procurement process that only raises two bidders in many aspects can raise eyebrows. The question we need to ask is why the many audit firms we have in this country fear to audit the Auditor-General and the reasons behind them choosing not to bid for this lucrative job. Truth be told; the winner of this bid makes a lot of money. However, you wonder why most of the reputable audit firms are not bidding for this job. This raises concerns that this Committee needs to look at. We may pass this Report for now but going forward, it should be clear. We should come up with a recommendation to have a minimum number of bidders, say five, such 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."
}