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{
    "id": 449252,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/449252/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 194,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chanzu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 11,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
        "slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to support the Supplementary Estimates of 2013/2014. The issue of planning for the unforeseen or the unexpected is important. This is because it is sometimes very difficult to plan for the whole year given that our economy has a lot of things happening in it. This is a good idea. Traditionally, we have these Supplementary Estimates in March. However, given the fact that our cycle of elections changed, and given the complex nature of the current Government system, we have the Supplementary Estimates presented now. That should not be an issue. I would like to commend hon. Mutava Musyimi and his Committee because of tackling the issue of low absorption capacity. I believe that they did not have time to look at all the sectors that they were supposed to deal with. I read in the newspapers about the county governments having Kshs66 billion which had not been spent, yet they say that they want more money to run the counties. This is an issue to be addressed at all levels. This is because all the money comes from the same coffers. It is only the national fund that is used to finance national and county functions. We have talked about procurement law, but I wonder why some sectors are able to spend while others are not able to do so. I do not think it is a uniform thing across board even when it comes to Ministries. There are those who know what they are doing while others do not know; so, they spend a lot of time trying to look around for how to start doing it. Nairobi County was allocated about Kshs10 billion and it has a balance of Kshs100 million. You will find that small counties, for example Vihiga, it was entitled to about Kshs2.4 billion and has an uncommitted balance of Kshs1.15 billion, yet no services are being rendered. There is no medicine in hospitals, children are being chased away from school and so on. I do not know what kind of procurement law will help the counties. I think it is just inefficiency in some of the offices. The Chairman has talked about the issues at the National Treasury. When we were trying to come up with new laws as a result of the new Constitution, I think there was a lot of resistance from the National Treasury; they wanted the status quo to be maintained. I am sure the Committee and Parliament will address these issues. Hon. Speaker, last minute spending by some of these entities encourages corruption. When they want to spend, they say that procurement laws are in place and you find them spending at the last minute. This needs to be checked by the Committee. Hon. Speaker, there is the issue of employment in the public service. You know, we have duplicated employment here. There is employment in the central Government for people working in the former Provincial Administration, county employees and so on. This is what is causing problems. This also needs to be addressed. We need to do a proper audit of what is happening in the national Government and the county governments, so that we cut down on expenditure. 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."
}