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{
    "id": 505139,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/505139/?format=api",
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    "content": "allocation for foreign travel and that the Assembly had not given its books of accounts to the Executive Committee Member for Finance for inspection. (6) THAT, the Assembly Clerk wrote to the Executive Committee Member for Finance explaining that they had not exceeded their budget for foreign travel and that the books of accounts of the County Assembly are not supposed to be inspected by the Executive Committee Member for Finance, but by the Auditor-General and the same has been done. (7) THAT, the County Assembly of Makueni has installed an IFMIS system for financial management and opened an operational account at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to try to gain financial autonomy, but the two are not operational due to limitations of the Public Finance Management Act and have, therefore, to depend on the County Executive for the above services. (8) THAT, although Article 176 establishes the County Assembly as an arm of the County Government and Article 185 provides that the two arms should respect the principle of separation of powers, the independence of Makueni County Assembly and all other county assemblies in Kenya is, indeed, threatened and the oversight role cannot be performed effectively because of lack of financial autonomy. (9) THAT, Makueni County Assembly, like all county assemblies in Kenya, therefore, operate under the mercies of the County Executive on issues of finances thus compromising their ability to discharge their mandate. (10) THAT, given the separation of powers between the Executive and the Assembly, the Assembly is supposed to oversight the Executive and it is accountable to the Auditor-General’s office and the Office of the Controller of Budget. (11) THAT, we have tried to the best of our ability to have this matter conclusively addressed by the relevant authorities among them the Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury, the Controller of Budget and the Transition Authority, but our efforts have not yielded results. (12) THAT, save for the matters under paragraphs (6) and (7), which are before the court for interpretation of the law regarding the legality of the action by the Executive Committee Member for Finance to freeze the Assembly bank accounts, none of the other issues in this Petition are pending before any court of law. WHEREFORE, your humble petitioners pray that the Senate:- (1) Intervenes and calls upon the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury to:- (a) Urgently ensure that the county assemblies in Kenya should have their own independent financial systems. (b) Take measures to ensure that funds of county assemblies are wired directly to independent county assembly bank accounts and not through the County Treasury. (2) Amend Section 119 of the Public Finance Management Act by:- (a) Introducing a new sub-clause (1)(a) to read thus:- (b) The County Assembly Service Board established Section 12 of the County Governments Act shall be responsible for opening and operating of bank accounts of the County Assembly. 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."
}