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{
    "id": 524854,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/524854/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Lati",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2762,
        "legal_name": "Jonathan Lelelit Lati",
        "slug": "jonathan-lelelit-lati"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker. I rise to support this Bill because I think it is a very progressive one for our country. Clause 5 of Bill sets the qualifications for the Auditor-General. I find that to be very good especially in terms of academic requirements. A person with a background in finance and accounting is the kind of person you want in this area. What is striking to me is the need that the person should be a Kenyan. I find this out of place. If you want somebody who will look at how resources were used and knowing the endemic corruption that we have in this country, it is not necessary that, that guy should not be a Kenyan. In fact, in my opinion, this is one area we should look at the possibility of out-sourcing. That way, we will get a person who is independent in terms of birth, citizenry and even thinking. Maybe, the person will bring something different from what we have all along been accused of - that we are a corrupt society – watu wa chai na kitu kidogo. We should open up to all people who are qualified to be Auditor-Generals. They must not only be Kenyans. Clause 7 states the powers of the Auditor-General. One of the important powers is this: That the Auditor-General has now been given powers to confirm precautions taken to safeguard collection of revenue. In my opinion, this is a very important function and power allocated to the Auditor-General. Our Constitution has provision for many funds, for example, the Consolidated Fund, the County Revenue Fund, the Equalisation Fund and many others. Of interest here is the County Revenue Fund which is a constitutional fund. A few days ago, the World Bank and the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) listed counties with regard to finances. One of the things that were really amazing was that some counties were collecting less revenue than the revenue collected by the former county councils. I did not expect that to happen in my lifetime. That is because the county councils were under-staffed and the staff they had were not qualified. The counties now have qualified staff and strong revenue channels. They have the money to do many things. To see our counties collect less money is unbelievable. I do not think this is true! I think what is happening is that some counties are not taking some of their revenues to where the Constitution requires them to do. The Constitution states very clearly that all monies collected by counties must, first of all, be remitted to the County 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."
}