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{
    "id": 1585490,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1585490/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 990,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui Central, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Makali Mulu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "the Controller of Budget has complained that, at times, she approves money for certain activities only to find that it is being utilised for different purposes. The idea of involving the Controller of the Budget is to ensure that whatever money she approves is used for the intended purpose. This way, county assemblies will do their work as outlined in the Constitution. When the Chairman was moving this Bill, there was something he said, and I am not sure if it was a slip of the tongue or if that is what the Bill proposes. He said “that the money paid to the county assembly account, once the year ends, is rolled over”, just like we do with the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF). That is an area we need to get right. Even in this Parliament, we do not get our budgets rolled over to the next financial year. Come 30th June, what has not been spent is expected to disappear from the box. That is aligned with doing zero-based budgeting. Once we adopt rolling over of budgets, we will kill the spirit of zero-based budgeting. That is an area that we need to think about when this Bill moves to Third Reading. We must ensure the money is spent annually. Our budgeting process is annual, with the other two years for purposes of budgeting. It should be that way. If the counties are unable to spend their money by 30th June of every year, they justify it in the next financial year, as all government institutions do. This will help avoid confusion regarding our financial management issue. There is not much to say about this. This is a very exciting moment. I wish it came 10 years ago. Today, our county assemblies would be independent. The corruption problem we are seeing with the county executive is largely because our county assemblies lack the authority to effectively say no to the county executive. With financial autonomy, they will be able to say no and conduct their activities independently. Since their roles are similar to ours —legislation, representation, and oversight —with the introduction of financial autonomy, they will carry out their roles effectively. I wish them all the best as they start the new journey of financial independence. Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}