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{
    "id": 524799,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/524799/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 128,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Baiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 8,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njoroge Baiya",
        "slug": "peter-baiya"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to the Bill. This is one of the Bills which have a constitutional implementation timeline. It was supposed to have been enacted before 26th August, 2014, but time was extended by nine months which is going to lapse around May. It is my hope that the National Assembly will be through with this Bill in time so that it can be referred to the Senate and hopefully there will be sufficient time to facilitate mediation in case any is needed so that we can meet those time constraints given that under the Constitution we can extend time only once which we have already done. The Auditor-General’s Office as reformed under the new Constitution and within the new Act is a very important office. This office is supposed to offer oversight over all State institutions. Under the new constitutional dispensation where Parliament and the National Assembly in particular, is no longer sitting in the Executive, Parliament is the one that really requires a strong Auditor-General’s Office. We have seen instances where Members of Parliament have attempted to exercise oversight over a State institution, but acting as a committee means they do not have the requisite opportunity, competence and staff. So, in a situation where the Auditor-General’s Office is sufficiently empowered and funded, the Auditor- General will work with the relevant committees of Parliament. He will make reports on the relevant State institutions audited and avail the reports before the committees so that they are able to take the necessary action against the Executive or the concerned Government department. That is the way this institution is supposed to work. Hon. Speaker, when we look at parallel jurisdictions like Germany, you find that the institution of the Auditor-General’s Office is very strong and a parliamentary committee works very closely with this institution. They are also sufficiently funded. For instance, when it comes to functions of auditing, in the country we have focused only on financial auditing in the past, but this Bill proposes other aspects of auditing including value for money audit. The kind of skills needed for auditing goes beyond mere financial auditing. It may involve auditing the infrastructure where the country is now spending enormous amount of resources. The Auditor-General’s Office will need to employ people with specific technical skills including engineers who can assist the office, for instance to audit those infrastructure projects. They will need architects who can also audit compliance with the specifications of designs as well as the implementation. I, therefore, urge the House to recognise that an empowered Auditor-General will be a very important assistant to Parliament to exercise its oversight role together with the other independent commissions. This goes on to just illustrate what happened, for instance, during the Narok tussle involving the Senate and the Members of Parliament. The Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Commerce and Budget called the Auditor- General and requested him to make a report on the controversy over the corruption cases in Narok. However, the Auditor General came out saying that he could not afford to give a report to the Committee because he does not have the requisite manpower to conduct particularly case by case audit as would be needed and as was the case in Narok. This, therefore, means that Parliament will also need, during budget allocation as we operationalise this Act, to ensure that the Auditor-General’s Office is sufficiently funded to be able to discharge the mandate expected of it even to assist various committees of both Houses with the requisite information whenever needed. 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."
}