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{
    "id": 510367,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/510367/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 172,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "disregard the KENAO management letters that would have made the work that we do easier. Perhaps, if they did that, these reports would not be as big as they are, they could be only a small fraction of what they are now. They would be focusing only on key issues such those that had been outlined by the Chair and the Vice-Chairman. This House would, indeed, deal only with critical and not mundane issues. Some of the most disturbing aspects of it have already been stated. All over the world, debate or arguments of what is confidential and what is not has been going on. How to treat confidential information to the satisfaction of the taxpayer as presented in various laws and so on is a raging debate. It is illegitimate for someone to defend and say: “You are asking for too much, we cannot provide that.” Even the agencies themselves are unable to ascertain the appropriateness of the use of funds. Even within their internal and confidential processes, we note that there is a major problem. I would urge the House to find a solution in which we use the confines of confidentiality, however defined. There is somebody somewhere who is vetted and accepted and who will be able to authenticate the use of those funds. Nobody is questioning the need to have such confidential expenditures. Every government has that, but no government will allow that to be a window in which cold air flows in unimpeded. I think that is the message that we must truly emphasize. Furthermore, in areas where the Government has been taken to court because of certain transactions – they have become subject of judicial review - the issue of preparedness of the Government of Kenya is totally wanting. It would have been fair to say that cases that are lost seemingly, willfully or through negligence ought to be surcharged on somebody when the report has not gone far. I hope the agencies concerned will do some soul-searching so that they do not get named every year these reports come before the House. It is totally unacceptable that even in cases where the Government has won, they have not been followed to make sure that payments are made. That goes completely undone. Secondly, even where they have judgments against the Government, delays in following up with Treasury have made the Government incur penalties and these are large sums of money. In a country where demands for social services are so high, we cannot afford these kinds of careless losses of funds."
}