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{
    "id": 524859,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/524859/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 188,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "General, then you compromise the possible recommendations that will come, or the possible regulations that would come out of this office. I also wanted to speak on Clause 20 of this Bill with concerns budgets. We all know that for any auditor to be independent, function independently and do his work without any interference or intimidation, their budget needs to be cushioned. We need to ring-fence the Auditor-General’s budget and only subject it to the people’s representatives, and that is Parliament. As it is today, it is Parliament that determines how much should be given to the Auditor-General. This law is taking that gain away from the Office of the Auditor-General by recommending that the budget estimates of revenue and expenditure referred to in Clause 20 (2)--- It reads: “The budget estimates of revenue referred to under sub-section (1) shall be submitted to the Cabinet Secretary (CS) responsible for finance not later than 30th March each year for review and submission to the National Assembly in accordance with Article 221 of the Constitution, and National Assembly shall, pursuant to Article 249 (3) of the Constitution, allocate adequate funds to the office of the Auditor-General.” When you submit this, it means it can never come to Parliament without going through the Cabinet Secretary responsible for Finance. However, that is one of the Ministries that the Auditor-General needs to audit. Therefore if you subordinate the budget of the Auditor-General to the Cabinet Secretary, then the Auditor-General’s independence is compromised. You see, even Parliament’s budget is cushioned. Parliamentary Service Commission submits its budget directly to Parliament. We equally need to cushion the Auditor-General‘s budget. This is because it is an important institution. If we had a way then even Parliament should not have had a say in the budget of the Auditor-General because even Parliament is audited. However, Parliament comes in only because the Constitution and the law recognises that these are people’s representatives. It is expected by extension to work for the best interests of the people of Kenya. Therefore, I think we need to amend this particular provision to subject the budget of our Auditor-General only to Parliament."
}