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{
    "id": 1551978,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1551978/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 761,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "engaged by a county government. Lastly was the aspect of inadequate staff allowed to be hired by county attorneys. The issues that the Joint Committee picked out for purposes of consideration that formed the flesh to this particular report are; the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya, the County Governments Act, the Office of the County Attorney Act, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, as well as the Advocates Remuneration Order, which generally regulates the amount of legal fees charged by law firms for services rendered to any other client not necessary limited to county governments. These are the laws and regulations that guided the Joint Committee in coming up with the recommendations that were made. The other critical consideration by the Joint Committee was the expenditure which we noted that was captured by a number of reports by the Auditor-General as well as county governments pending bills which were high when it came to matters of legal services. There was also the aspect of irregularities in terms of instructions being given out to warrant the ballooning expenditure that has been reported by counties with regards to legal services. The Joint Committee noted that there is need for counties to comply with the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, especially when they are seeking to outsource legal services. They should also ensure that the fees which lawyers charge county governments are also within the provisions of the Advocates Remunerations Order and other relevant statutes, including an engagement where prior to getting instructions, requests of proposals for legal fees and quotations are made by county governments, so that the lowest bidders are considered. By doing that, county governments will be using resources efficiently by making sure that they do not just do it for the sake of hiring lawyers. On the basis of our findings and reports that we got from various stakeholders and the observations made by the Joint Committee, the following recommendations were made. I urge Members to go through them. This is a report with five chapters. Therefore, it is important for Members to look at the recommendations made and also submissions by various stakeholders that guided the Joint Committee in coming up with these recommendations. The recommendations made by the Joint Committee included the following. Firstly, county governments are encouraged to build capacity of employees under the Office of the County Attorney. By doing so, it will help them to ensure that complex cases which they made reference to as a basis of hiring lawyers from outside are justified. Secondly, county governments are encouraged to strictly adhere to the regulations, legal framework, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, as well as the Advocates Remuneration Order when approving payments for legal services. When they adhere to that, definitely they will charge within the scale. That will ensure that public resources are managed well and also the expenditure on legal services generally is managed. Thirdly, whenever county governments seek representation from external lawyers, that should only be limited to occasionally complex cases that would be justified because 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."
}