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{
"id": 1509266,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1509266/?format=api",
"text_counter": 896,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "hope, but also a place where they see as a place of getting recourse when the country is facing a lot of challenges. Secondly, let me also take this chance to thank the leadership of the House starting from the Speaker and also the Speaker's Panel. This also goes to the Senate Business Committee (SBC) which helps us figure out our business every day. We have tried to prioritize several issues that we have canvassed through that have made a lot of impact in terms of the lives of our people. This is exemplified indeed by what happened between yesterday and today, where we have managed, to the surprise of many, to mobilize all Senators to pass the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA). We passed the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA) at the right time. The Cash Disbursement Schedule was also passed at the right time and all the Bills that have been passed here. This could not have been possible without the leadership of the House, starting from the Speaker, going to the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, the Senate Deputy Majority and Deputy Minority Leaders, and the Senate Majority and Minority Whips. On my side, my leadership has been very amazing in terms of just making sure that we can make sense of our duty under Article 96 of our Constitution. I want to appreciate specifically the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Steward Madzayo; my Whip, Sen. Ledama Olekina; my Deputy Minority Leader, Sen. Wambua, as well as Sen. Sifuna, for the leadership that they have given us to make sure that we can make sense of everything. I do not want to say much because I know that one or two Senators might want to say one or two, three things, but there is one thing that the Senate Minority Whip brought to this House, and even as we go on recess, I wanted us to not lose sight of it. I wanted to beg the Senate Majority Leader to provide leadership on this issue of pending bills. Even though we have passed some very essential Bills in this House, the issue of pending bills is tantamount to what the Senate Majority Leader has talked about, absorption rates of development money in counties. I checked the report, and in my county, in the last quarter, what the County Assembly had passed as a target for development was 36 per cent. In the report that has just come out from the Controller of Budget (CoB), we have 22 per cent that was used in development. That is even lower than the required 30 per cent. I think this is happening because of the accumulation of serious pending bills. For instance, in Migori County, we have Kshs1.5 billion pending bills, and Kshs1 billion was accrued in the last financial year. Madam Temporary Speaker, therefore, this House must stand on the interpretation of Article 228 (5). As a Senate, we should go to the Supreme Court to get a judicial review to make sure that we have the Controller of Budget (COB) indeed controlling the budgets of our counties. Without that interpretation, we are going to continue having serious, skyrocketing pending bills that we might never be able to deal with. If you were to seek a recourse on Article 225, where the Cabinet Secretary is be able to stop some funds going to counties, you cannot do it without the COB taking control of overseeing the implementation of budgets in our counties. I urge Senators not lose sight of this one thing. The Minority Whip raised it, but we have not taken it seriously. If we do not address it, pending bills is going to be a growing concern that will The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}