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"id": 176500,
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"speaker_name": "Prof. Kamar",
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"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the Bill before the House. I want to thank Mr. Mbau for bringing this Bill. To me, this is the rebirth of the oversight function of parliamentarians. Apart from representation, the oversight function is one of the most important roles of Parliament, especially over the spending by the Government. This has been our failure and undoing in this country for many years. Most times, we have come here to ask Questions that our communities are asking and yet, we are parliamentarians. The reason being that we have no control of the affairs of the process of budgeting and even the monitoring of what has been budgeted for. That is why I am very happy that we have reached a point when we can come up with a Bill - The Fiscal Management Bill - that will answer a number of queries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have said that this Bill is a rebirth of the oversight function of Parliament and transparency and accountability by our Ministers and technical staff; the civil servants. I believe that nobody in this House will go against this Bill. In Clause 10 (1), the oversight function is elevated to very good status. It says:- \"Upon being laid before the National Assembly, the Annual Estimates shall stand committed to the respective Departmental Committees.\" I think that, that is the beginning and this is where we should have always began; that before a Budget is finalised, the Departmental Committee should scrutinise what is going to the respective Ministries. Clause 10 (2) goes further to say that each departmental committee, according to this Bill, will be allowed to consider, discuss and review. We have had a lot of outcry in this House because 3896 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 4, 2008 of poor national distribution of resources. This Bill is going to allow Members of this House to discuss, consider and review, if necessary, the Budget in advance. In fact, Clause 10(3), enables the Committee to have discussions with the Minister, something that has never been heard of in Independent Kenya. So, this will allow the relevant committees to scrutinise the Budget and discuss it with the relevant Minister. That will enable us to control the distribution of resources within the country. So, that is a provision that I think is going to untie this issue of roads being built in one section of the country while some areas are not receiving resources. This is going to be a thing of the past, because it will have been discussed by our Committees. By the time it comes to the House, we will not be rubber-stamping, but agreeing with what our own colleagues in the House will have dealt with. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other aspect that I believe will really help us in our oversight function is the Quarterly Compliance Reports. At the moment, we do not know, after budgeting, who is supposed to be supervising who. I want to mention the fact that we have extension services in this country. We have District Agricultural Officers and District Livestock Officers, but we do not know who actually supervises them. On the ground, they are supposed to be serving the people. If they do not serve, who supervises them to know what they have done? Better still, the quarterly reports will enable us, as parliamentarians, to cross-check on the ground whether the activities that were approved are actually going in our respective constituencies. That, to me, is the right direction as far as accountability and transparency are concerned. At the moment, we are not able, as parliamentarians, to know how much has been allocated for what, in our districts or constituencies. After, you are even able to assist your constituents and let them know what their rights and privileges are, from the various departments and Ministries at the local level. So, to me, this is very important. It is good that we are going to demand a Quarterly Compliance Report. My main reason for supporting this Bill is the issue of withholding approval. This Bill is going to enable Parliament to withhold approval. That comes under Clause 15(2) which says:- \"Where a department has wilfully and persistently failed to implement or respond to audit questions and recommendations, the National Assembly may, subject to such conditions as the expedience, withhold such amounts from the departmental vote for a year as commensurate to the amount in the audit queries.\" You are aware that we have a backlog of audit queries. If this Bill is passed, we should be able to make our people accountable. Withholding alone is going to make our people be efficient and effective in the performance of their duties. This is because, currently, there is nothing that stops them from not performing. There is no checklist to show whether or not you have performed. By withholding, we will be forcing the relevant departments to ensure that the queries that have been raised are actually answered. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, currently, we receive audit reports late. After receiving them late, we pass in the House that the audit queries be attended to, but nothing comes back to us. Nothing comes back to inform us whether these corrections have been done or the recommendations have been addressed. To me, this is one of the most important clauses of this Bill. It will be able to enforce efficiency by withholding. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that there are many hon. Members who would like to touch on a number of issues on this Bill and I would like to support it because this is the beginning of accountability and efficiency in this country. The last thing I would like to touch on is the issue of funds in the form of donations and grants from the international community. These funds have never been scrutinised by this House. I happen to be a Member of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the African, Caribbean, Pacific and December 04, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3897 European Union (ACP-EU). Only last week, we were in Papua, New Guinea, with my colleague, Mr. Kombo. We saw a Strategy Paper that has been signed by Kenya to attract the European Development Fund. The amount of money in question is in billions of shillings. We asked ourselves: \"Before this paper was signed, why was it not tabled in the House, so that we could all be aware, scrutinize and ratify?\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill will ensure that any expenditure, be it from taxpayers money or donors, is scrutinised by this House. To me, that will be the best thing that the Tenth Parliament will have done for this country. We must ensure that we receive everything and have it approved by this House. Currently, Members of Parliament have been reduced to desperadoes, who persuade even civil servants to give them support for projects in their own constituencies. That is not right. It is very important that we budget and account for every penny, so that Kenyans can rest assured nothing will be misappropriated in this country. The Act that will result from this Bill will demand that every expenditure by the Government must come to the House first for approval. To me, that is a welcome move. That is what I am calling \"the re-birth\" of the oversight function of this Parliament. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}