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{
    "id": 396506,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/396506/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 239,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the amended Motion. Allow me to draw the attention of the House to a quote from the letter that was written by Hon. Geoffrey Iyanae Kaituko, Member of the County Assembly of Turkana and Speaker of that Assembly to the Controller of Budget. He says:- “Finally, Members of the Turkana County Assembly, if necessary, are prepared to pursue all possible avenues which include, but are not limited to, litigation in ensuring that only the approved budget estimates which were done in accordance with the law are funded”. If this is what this Speaker of this county assembly is saying – a very patriotic Kenyan – it means that if this Senate does not do what many Senators have proposed here, it will end up being an indictment on the Senate that we are not capable of protecting our county assemblies, our county governments and the people of our counties. Therefore, I want to call upon the Chairman of the Committee and the entire membership of the Committee to take it within their stride the fact that we are recommitting this matter to them. As they do so, I want to specifically ask them to look at the following points: First, as you call these people to come before you, use the investigations of the Controller of Budget as a template or a working document that will help you to interrogate them further. Look at what they are saying in that Report on page 11(7). They are saying that a whopping Khs5.2 billion meant for development expenditure and a whopping Kshs2.9 billion meant for recurrent expenditure was brought to the Controller of Budget for recommendation by the executive committee in the Governor’s office and when the Controller of Budget made inquiries from the Members of the County Assembly, they established that neither their input nor their approval was sought in those alterations. That is a serious statement on corruption. It is a serious statement on impunity. It is a serious statement on where we are headed to. We are headed to creating 47 African big men who will be saying “I am the boss”. In fact, these days, I hear some of them saying that they are the Presidents of the counties. We must refuse that as the Senate. When we were young people like Sen. Melly, waging wars at the university, we were not doing it for any other reason; we were doing it so that we could fight poverty in the rural areas. We were doing it so that we could cause development to go to all the corners of Kenya and we are not going to do it if this is going to be the start that we shall entertain. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}