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{
    "id": 1550599,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1550599/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 530,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "these are counties that we can call out as having done very well. Why are other counties not digitising their systems to enhance revenue collection? If they enhance their revenue collection, they will be able to meet their budget targets. One of the biggest challenges today is the issue of pending bills. Many county governments have pending bills amounting to as much as Ksh179 billion. These are owed to Kenyan businesspeople who have taken bank loans and invested in doing business within their counties. When will they be paid? Some of those pending bills date back to the tenure of former governors who have since left office. New governors who come in do not want to honour the pending bills left by their predecessors, leaving Kenyans to continue suffering. That brings us to an issue this House should look at: how we can assist the counties through the Office of the Controller of Budget to ensure that all pending bills are sorted out. We have pending bills clogging the activities of institutions. For example, county governments have even refused to pay the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) and owe KEMSA between six and nine months. They have refused to pay them. They decide to go to other chemists or other suppliers to get their supplies. As a House, we should look for solutions that can mitigate such issues so that before we release money to the counties, we have the Controller of the Budget ensuring that pending bills are sorted out. We have even had cases where you have counties informing the Controller of Budget that they have pending bill \"A\" or \"B\", but at the end of the day, instead of paying \"A\" and \"B\", he goes to pay pending bill \"C\" and \"D\". Hence, the person the Control of Budget had been requested to pay pending Bill of \"A\" and \"B\", is left to wait. I think that is very wrong. The Controller of Budget has no mechanism to enforce this. This being a budget-making House, as a Committee, we will come up with recommendations that the House can adopt and see the action that can be taken to penalise a county that requests for payment of a pending bill for “A” and “B” and decides to pay “C” and “D”. Hon. Temporary Speaker, with those few remarks, I want to second. Thank you."
}