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{
    "id": 273432,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/273432/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 300,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ogindo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 120,
        "legal_name": "Martin Otieno Ogindo",
        "slug": "martin-ogindo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Bill. I want to say from the outset that Kenya is at this historical moment with the sole purpose of breaking with the past. The Bill we are debating now is one of the three most important Bills on the devolution concept. The Public Financial Management Bill is very critical to the realization of devolution. The other Bills are the Land Bills and the County Government Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on this Bill, allow me to say that as Members, we are looking forward to seeing to what extent the devolution chapter is entrenched in that Bill so as to ensure the realization of aspirations of devolution. I know that we are going to have two levels of government; the National Government and the devolved government. It is the function of the Treasury to mobilize funds and to distribute those funds. It is important that we separate certain functions from others. One of the functions that I want separated from the function of the Treasury is the management of public debt. It is important that we separate the public debt office from the Treasury because it undermines the concept of accountability when it is the same department of Government that borrows, spends and services the loan. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as you are aware, today as I speak, the debt level in this country is such that if it was to be equally divided, each and every Kenyan citizen today would carry a debt loan of Kshs31,000. That is very heavy. We realize that the Constitution says that the loans of this country should be used in a manner that is beneficial to all generations because all generations will share the burden. It is also important that some counties would be keen in borrowing money. If we leave this function to the Treasury, it would be hard for those counties to get good evaluation on their proposals. The other thing I want to bring out is that there are certain critical offices in the Treasury, even as I speak today. One of them is the Accountant-General’s office. This is a very important office that is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the accounting process of the Government. It is important that this office is profiled high enough by the Act so that the recruitment process is spelt out, the functions are clearly spelt out and it is held accountable against certain functions. The same would go to other offices in the Treasury like the External Resource Mobilization, the Economic Affairs and above all, we also need to profile the Department of Internal Audit with a view to giving it some independence so that it does not remain subordinate to the Treasury administration. As such, the creation of the Internal Audit Department must be clearly spelt out in the Act. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing I want to bring out is; if we are to realize devolution, it is important that we duplicate what is happening today at the National Government, whereby the constitutionally created offices at the National Government are a charge directed to the Consolidated Fund under the Consolidated Funds Services. Similarly, the similar constitutional offices that are created at the county levels should enjoy the same privileges if we are to have a sustainable devolved system. With hindsight, you will realize that one of the ways that was used to kill devolution as was conceived in the early 1960s was to starve the counties. We do not want to see a repeat of that. The other point I want to bring out is that we are assured by the Mover of the Bill that other development funds like the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) will not die, Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF) will not die and with this Bill we want these provisions clearly spelt out. The other thing is for the disbursement of funds. It is important that timelines are given in the manner that the funds are going to be disbursed. It is important that we all appreciate that taxes are collected over a period of time but a timeline be drawn so that we know that the first disbursement shall be received by the county governments not later than a specific date so that we wait for the date to avoid queuing in Nairobi looking for funds for the devolved Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing is the format of budgeting. The new Constitution envisages a revision on our format of budgeting. What we have had previously are huge volumes of books where an ordinary person is unable to see clearly what the Government intends to do or how much money it is collecting. So, it is important that we take advantage of this Bill today so that we can revise the format of budgeting so that we can have simplified budget that all and sundry are able to see what there is in our budget. I would have been more privileged to have had the ears of the Minister, nonetheless, I think he has his institutional ears at the corner. It is my call that this Bill is key to the next dispensation and that we cooperate with the Treasury and the Treasury cooperates with Parliament so that we bring up a raft of amendments that will make this Bill good for every Kenyan in this country. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}