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{
    "id": 420819,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/420819/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "contains specific recommendations including names and public institutions that are liable to be charged for misuse of public funds. As general observations, the Committee notes the following:- (i) The Committee has noted failure by accounting officers to act in time when dealing with the Auditor-General. In the course of the audit, the Auditor-General issues management letters to accounting officers to take positive action on audit queries before the final audit report is produced. However, there were several cases where accounting officers failed to act on the management letters or acted late thus leading to audit queries that would have, otherwise, been avoided. In this regard, the Committee recommends that:- (a) Accounting officers must take management letters issued by Auditor-General very serious and act on them promptly. (b) Where an accounting officer fails to ensure that matters capable of being resolved with the Auditor-General through timely action are not resolved, he be sanctioned by the appointing authority. (ii) The second observation relates to the big issue of pending Bills. Pending Bills continue to dominate as one of the most persistent audit queries in the Ministries. As at 30th June 2010, the total pending bills in 38 Ministries at that time and departments of Government amounted to Kshs.16,640,966,825.99. The Ministry of Roads topped the list with pending Bills of Kshs.9,533,605,300.51 followed by Ministry of Local Government at Kshs.2,138,973,060.26. Pending bills were in most cases attributed to inadequate Exchequer issues and failure by donors to release funds. The Committee observed that failure to settle bills in time adversely affect supervision for the subsequent year to which they have been charged. The Committee further observed that failure to settle bills in time portrays the Government in bad light and may discourage suppliers from dealing with the Government, thereby, adversely affecting service delivery. The Committee heard from Treasury that the Pending Bills Closing Committee appointed by the President to investigate and advise on Kshs.120 billion bills owed by the Government of Kenya had once again failed to beat its deadline of 31st December 2010, after an extension from 30th June, 2010. The Committee had now sought another extension of 31st December 2011. The Committee noted with concern that the Pending Bills Closing Committee was appointed in the year 2003 and its failure to accomplish its task, close to ten years after appointment, was not in the best interest of the public. The Committee, therefore, made the following recommendations in respect to the big question of pending bills:- (a) Accounting officers, in conjunction with Treasury, should put in place sufficient austerity measures to ensure that bills are always cleared within the financial year they relate. (b) The Government should ensure that the Pending Bills Closing Committee finalizes its work by 30th March, 2013 and immediate action taken on its report. Let me just point to the House that in the next Report that we will be submitting to this House in the coming month, we will be able to report substantively on the progress made by the Pending Bills Closing Committee. That is because it is a key element of clearing the big cloud of pending bills. The other big issue that has continued to dodge Government account is outstanding imprests. Cases of outstanding imprests were The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}