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{
    "id": 1623097,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623097/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 4524,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Beatrice Elachi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "little money we get? Kenyan suppliers, whether at the county or national level, provided products that were used. Most of these suppliers have been auctioned by banks. The best we could do in this Budget is to set aside some funds, rather than focusing on the Ksh460 billion allocated to the counties, to pay our fellow Kenyans who supply goods and services and visit our offices daily due to their pending bills. That is the saddest part of the whole process. Hon. Temporary Speaker, even as we look at everything we have done, if we do not come up with a solution for pending bills, it will be very sad for Kenyans who work for the Government, who knew there was a need to supply an item, supplied it, but have not be paid. We are now setting up a committee to look into whether these claims are true. Why are we looking at this now? It means that we are all part of the problem, which is why we are devising ways to evaluate and determine how these payments will be made. Finally, I want to talk about the Ministry of Defence. The Committee observed that in 1992, 1997, 1998 and 2000, the Ministry of Defence did not recruit any new soldiers, resulting in significant deficiencies in the posture of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF). To remedy this situation, they have requested Ksh2 billion to support recruitment efforts in this fiscal year, which I support because their reasons are valid. We are not being fair to our disciplined forces because they previously enjoyed certain exemptions due to the nature of their work. We used to ensure that they were provided for because they were serving the country. You will find the wives and children of those who died in the line of duty suffering because we did not put in place measures to protect them. The Government should ensure that veterans who have served our country are taken care of. Most of their privileges may have been taken away because of misuse. However, those in the camps in Somalia need to be protected, and we need to come up with favourable ways of doing so. Our police officers also have worn-out uniforms and shoes, yet we expect them to perform their duties. It is very unfortunate. We need to protect them because they serve us. They were trained, qualified and are now on the job. We need to dignify them in terms of housing. I appreciate the Central Bank of Kenya and other institutions which have established affordable housing programmes for their employees. We must remember that the police are the image of our country. They should have dignified uniforms. We created institutions to deal with corruption, which helps. The Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) was not formed to take you to Court, but to ensure that you do not mismanage funds. It helps institutions prevent the mismanagement of resources. The Office of the Auditor-General audits state corporations and assists them in avoiding similar mistakes in subsequent audits. The purpose of auditing is to clean up the books. The Office of the Auditor-General helps to reduce mismanagement of resources. I plead with those institutions not to bring bad reports, but also to help the counties, constituencies, and various sectors improve their public financial management. We will then appreciate the purpose of spending public resources. With those few remarks, I support the Motion."
}