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{
    "id": 1503174,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503174/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 414,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Molo, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kuria Kimani",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "accounting system we use. We are hoping that once we move from cash to accrual accounting, we will see more accountability and be able to verify our pending bills. Also, we need to know how much we own as a country and how many assets exist. This is one of the best practices globally. I urge this honourable House to support this Bill. I assure you that the proposed amendments do not give a blank cheque to the Executive. In fact, it is putting them to account that the debt they borrow must be used to grow our GDP. We are also providing a clear timeline for when they should come to this House, report, and show proof that they have adhered to 55 per cent of debt as a percentage of GDP in present value terms. The migration from cash to accrual accounting is something the accounting profession has discussed over the years. If you go to some public schools, for example, a day secondary school in my constituency had pending bills of Ksh30 million. We wondered why they had such a huge outstanding debt. When we called the suppliers, someone said they supplied milk worth Ksh5 million. Yet, the only people who consume milk in the school are the principal and teachers. It is not possible for a school that does not give its students milk to incur such a bill. When we asked for receipts, they did not have them because our schools use a cash accounting system. We urge all Government entities… This matter will have a lot of resistance from accounting officers because they do not want to change the system. This will allow the National Treasury or anyone in this country to check the financial health of a particular institution. In the same way, if you want to buy a business, you go to a bank and can clearly tell the strength of the assets, debts, liabilities and profitability. In as much as there is no profitability in offering public service, at the very least, we need to have a clear view of the assets and liabilities that our Government has. Migration from cash to accrual accounting has globally demonstrated it works. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. With that, I beg to second."
}