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{
    "id": 1526094,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1526094/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 143,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Auditor-General appeared before the Finance and National Planning Committee and made representations, she did not indicate that the Bill sought to remove her from her office. The Committee’s Report is publicly available; it is on the parliamentary website. On my X account post, I have indicated the same so that Kenyans may be apprised with accurate information regarding business before this House or business that is speculated to be before this House. I have also seen other people speculating that there is a Bill on boda boda in the National Assembly, yet the Bill was proposed by the Senator for Kakamega in the Senate as a Private Member's Bill. My plea to our very good journalists in the Fourth Estate is that when they report the business before this House, they should do so accurately with the highest standards of journalism and refrain from having sensational stories that are only geared towards inciting members of the public or selling their otherwise slow-moving newspapers. I want to end my Statement by appealing to everybody, including Kenyans. I want to inform them that any business that is before this House, be it a Motion or a Bill, is publicly available on our website. Bills on the website have their memorandum of objects and reasons at the back so they do not need a journalist or anybody on social media to interpret the Bills for them. They should just read. I believe our drafters in the National Assembly, the Senate and the Attorney-General's Office use plain and simple language that any Kenyan can read and understand. I also saw in some platforms our Bills being translated into Swahili for those who cannot read them in English. Therefore, there is no reason for people to be circulating inaccurate, misleading and inciting statements purporting that we want to remove the Auditor General from office. I say this with immense respect to the Auditor-General and the Office of the Comptroller of Budget notwithstanding what I saw yesterday when the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) from Nairobi were demonstrating outside the office of the Comptroller of Budget. From what I saw the MCAs for Nairobi County doing - you know I should be the last person to speak for governors - I implore on independent offices, specifically the Office of the Comptroller of Budget to style up. Governors in this country have to go through hell to get money approved for use in their counties by the Office of the Comptroller of Budget. Many will tell you that without parting with money or paying bribes to officers in that office, a governor will not get justice. It is the Members of the other House, the Senate, who should be speaking about this issue. I saw in the media the Nairobi MCAs having taken it upon themselves to go and demonstrate or seek justice about money that should go to the constituents in their wards. They cannot get approvals. This is not just happening to Nairobi County, but to all counties across the country. Governors and county governments are suffering because of inefficiencies and corruption in the Office of the Comptroller of Budget. Since it is an independent office, they imagine that if anyone speaks about them the whole world will come crumbling down saying we are attacking independent offices. Their independence cannot go without being checked. It is only Parliament that can check these independent offices, including the Office of the Auditor General. The Auditor-General reports to Parliament and that is why her reports are sent to the National Assembly and for anything relating to counties, to the Senate to offer an opportunity to the ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of Government to appear before Parliament oversight committees and answer all the issues that the Auditor-General has raised. Therefore, when people pick sensational issues that are in the Auditor-General's report without paying any attention to the responses by the management of the MDAs, we run the risk of sensationalising everything about the running of public offices in this country. We must call for accountability in these offices. As we correct this misinformation, I want to take this opportunity to call for accountability within our independent constitutional offices like that of the Comptroller of Budget. I am certain if our governors had a forum like what I have here, they will tell you they 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."
}