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{
    "id": 1585474,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1585474/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 974,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Irene Mayaka",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Sorry, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I second the County Public Finance Laws (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bill No. 39 of 2023) that seeks to give county assemblies autonomy and independence. I say it is a privilege because previously I was a Member of the County Assembly (MCA) of Nyamira. In my experience while at the County Assembly, there was a lot bargaining at the County Assemblies Forums for MCAs to have autonomy. Secondly, I know a majority of Members here and those of the public have witnessed what is going on in the County Assembly of Nyamira. Where the MCAs and the County Executive have been grounded for the last nine months, unable to even pay salaries for both the MCAs and the workers of the county assembly. This has been extremely frustrating for that particular county assembly. I have also seen many other county assemblies frustrated by their county executive because they lack autonomy. When you look at the particular provisions, they cover the whole spectrum of amending various acts that are very necessary to seal all loopholes in the Law. The Bill seeks to amend Sections 2, 31, 32, and 34 of the County Assembly Service Act, 2017, and, most importantly, introduces Sections 109(A) to (E) and 119 to the Public Finance Management Act. These are fundamental in the establishment and management of that particular Fund, prescribing how the Controller of Budget comes in to ensure the proper utilisation of funds. I will take a bit of time on the specifics of this particular amendment, which establishes the purpose of this Fund. Section 109(B) prescribes how this Fund will be utilised, Section 109(C) proposes how the monies will be retained within the Fund, and Section 119 focuses on the viewer's rights. So, the Controller of Budget shall have viewer rights into this particular Fund. Another important provision is Section 136, which outlines the recovery mechanism for unutilised funds. On this matter, I urge the Members of the County Assemblies and the Clerks of the County Assemblies, who will be the key administrators of this Fund, to ensure that we do not have situations where monies that have been appropriated are returned to the Exchequer. As I mentioned, this is something they have fought for for a very long time. This Bill has many advantages. One is to give county assemblies independence from the county, which will help them perform their Constitutional duty of oversighting the executives without feeling like they have to depend on them. Second is an increase in public participation. Currently, as it stands, Members of the County Assembly and the County Secretariats are unable to facilitate direct public participation because they rely on the executive. A case in point is when they administer the budget in county assemblies, they have to wait for the executive to allocate funds for public participation. Most of the time, they are 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."
}