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{
    "id": 1503189,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503189/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 429,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "My only concern is that the commencement date of the accruals accounting system has been shifting all along. This leaves me wondering: does it really mean that the Government, or the Executive at both the national and county levels, lack the technical capacity to swiftly transition to the accrual basis? Many times, accounting officers come to you and say that they do not have a fixed asset register because they do not have money to prepare one. It is important that this process is expedited so that we can move to the accrual system. As I conclude on the issue of Clause 2, the parent Act states that the Cabinet Secretary shall, not later than five years from the date of commencement of sub-sections (2A) and (2B), presentably state the debt limit, taking measures to ensure that borrowing by the national Government complies with the threshold prescribed in sub-section (2A). The new amendment shifts and proposes that the provisions of sub-sections (2A) and (2B) shall come into force on the date that is five years from the date of commencement of this Act. In principle, this Bill shifts the date by which we have to comply with the provisions (2A) and (2B) to a date after five years from the date this Bill is assented to or comes into force. Therefore, it gives the current or the next Government the latitude to play around and probably not adhere to the regulations. A more important issue that needs to be addressed as a nation is the matter of pending bills. It is extremely unfair to insinuate that pending bills are not debt. Article 214 states that for the purposes of this Article, \"the public debt\" means all financial obligations attendant to loans raised or guaranteed and securities issued or guaranteed by the national Government. I urge the national Government to capitalise on pending bills and issue guarantees so that loans covering the debts of the national Government can be adequately and correctly reported. As it stands, we are essentially understating the loans and debts of the national Government. This might not even include all the historical pending bills, let alone the current ones. It could be almost 70 per cent or close to 80 per cent of the national GDP. It is important that we deal with this issue and determine how to proceed. I hope the Committee listened to the people of Kenya and that amendments will be made to address the concerns we have raised here. We understand the need to move these things in good time so as to unlock very many things that are stuck."
}