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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, my names are Mr. John Mbadi Ng'ongo, the Member of Parliament for Gwassi. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to support the Motion and take this opportunity to thank the Membership of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for doing a good job. For a short period of time, they managed to go through and report on about four financial years. I think that they really did a good job. I will also not forget to thank the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General for moving very fast and being almost up to date with financial reporting. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to mention that, based on the principle of representative democracy, which stipulates that power--- We are mandated by the public, as Parliament, to make sure that whatever the Government spends is authorized by the public through this House. It is, therefore, necessary that any expenditure that Government Ministries, Departments or agencies incur must go through this House. I take exception to the fact that every year, there is always a report on Excess Votes. The Government accounting system is very clear that, before any amount is spent, it must be committed in the Vote Book and balances calculated. So, I do not understand how Accounting Officers can go ahead and overspend. When I was going through the Report I found out that there is a pattern. In the Financial Year 2000/2001, there was an over-expenditure of Kshs365 million. That is a lot money. In 2003/2004 it was Kshs152 million. In all the PAC reports, you will find the Committee reporting that, that is irregular and it should not be done. But it continues to be done. My concern is on a comment that is raised by the Committee in the Report. It says that the Treasury has no legal right, ability or capability to act or punish the Accounting Officers who are involved in such irregular activities. I would urge this House to look into ways of empowering the Treasury, or the Permanent 630 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 23, 2008 Secretary in charge of the Treasury, as to enhance the supervisory role over the Accounting Officers. I was also concerned about under-collection of Appropriations-in-Aid. That is basically under the Development Vote. That can be attributed to poor implementation of donor-funded projects and non-accounting of monies paid directly by donors due to lack of supporting documents. My question is: Do we really have the personnel with the capacity to manage donor- funded projects in the Ministries? I ask that because I know that donor conditionalities are quite strict and, probably, that is why we find it a bit hard to realise full collection of Appropriations-in- Aid. I would urge that Accounting Officers should ensure that all donor-funded projects are co- ordinated with a view to ensuring that expenditures are captured in the books and made available for audit purposes. I also would like to talk about road construction, which is mentioned in almost all the reports. A lot has been said about the Ministry of Roads. But I think some seriousness needs to be seen in that Ministry, especially where PAC has specifically stated that certain contractors should be blacklisted. They have even been called \"cowboy contractors\", but they still continue to transact business with the Government. My question is: Is that deliberate or do we not have enough contractors, so that we have to continue going back to the same old ones who fleeced the economy? I want to mention something about outstanding imprests. In all the PAC reports that I went through, you will realise that many Government departments have outstanding imprests amounting to millions of shillings. My knowledge about how the imprest system works in the Government is that in the imprest form, there is always a set date for accounting for the same. There is a requirement that before another imprest is advanced to you, you need to have accounted for the earlier one. I do not know why that is being violated. The Accounting Officer should ensure that nobody is advanced imprest until he or she clears the outstanding imprest. That is an area where we also lose a lot of money. You will realise that the Ministry that is most notorious for that is the Office of the President. I do not know whether that is deliberate. That is a big office to the extent that, even if it misbehaves, there is nothing that can be done. But I think there is need for seriousness in that Ministry. That is the same Ministry that orders for vehicles and they cannot be traced! I think we do not have fixed assets registers in that Ministry. So, I think there is need to ask the Accounting Officers in the Office of the President to make sure that they take their work seriously. Something has been mentioned about the Civil Contingency Fund, that is basically supposed to meet urgent and unforeseen expenditure. But still, you will find that normal expenditures are incurred from that Vote. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to mention something about the rise in public debt. In view of the fact that, at the beginning of this year, we had post-election violence--- I am sure the violence must have affected revenue collection and caused a strain in the economy. And there might be a tendency on the part of the Ministry to borrow money from the domestic market. This is generally expensive. I would advise that the Ministry avoids domestic borrowing and instead go for concessional, or external borrowing, which has slightly lower rates. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, on the issue of loss-making parastatals, in the Report of 2003/2004, the Government spent about Kshs600 million servicing loans that were guaranteed to five parastatals. These parastatals are struggling. In my view, there is no justification for keeping such parastatals. Such parastatals, which cannot maintain themselves, should be sold, so that they do not drain the economy of this country. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Ministry of Finance is one of the Ministries that are mentioned as having poor record keeping. If you look at page 17 of the 2003/2004 Report, the Committee noted with concern that there was improper ledger and bookkeeping in the Ministry. If April 23, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 631 this is the Ministry that we have tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the other Ministries spend as per the plans, and it is the same Ministry that cannot even keep its own records, then we are in a very awkward situation. The Ministry needs to take its work very seriously, because it should be a role model for other Ministries. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, on the guaranteed loans that I talked about, there is a legal requirement, the Guaranteed Loans Act, Cap.461, that states that Parliament needs to approve before the Government guarantees loans. But this has not been taking place. This House, being the supreme law-making organ of this country, needs to be respected. Action should be taken against any Ministry or department that carries out activities in disregard to the requirement that this House should be made aware of. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to conclude by touching again on the issue of roads that I mentioned. I hope that a contractor like Nyoro Construction Company (NCC) will be blacklisted for doing shoddy work on Juja Road. This issue is mentioned in the Report. A recommendation has been made and it should be implemented. If we keep on coming up with these reports, presenting them to the House, debating them and keeping them on the shelves, we are not doing good service to ourselves and our time. With those few remarks, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I beg to support."
}