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    "id": 553402,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/553402/?format=api",
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    "content": "and we proposed that in other such cases you can use the same team to find consensus quickly. I think even the staff were shocked that we finished very first and we agreed. Because of that I would like to thank the able leadership of Hon. Benjamin Langat and also the Senator, Hon. Billow Kerrow Senator, Hon. Sang and Hon. Makali. I cannot thank myself. Hon. Speaker, if you look at the issues that were of contention, they were not very heavy issues but they needed clarity. This is because public audit is such an important facet of public finance that the legal framework must be very solid and there must be clarity as to who does what, when and how. That is why we felt that certain provisions that had been amended by the Senate could not have gone unnoticed. It was important for us to give them a second look. Of course on all of them we agreed later together with the team from the Senate. The first issue was on the academic requirements in Clause 5. We agreed that we should not lock out anyone who might have qualifications and experience but does not have a postgraduate degree from being the Auditor-General (AG). Additionally, the Constitution is very clear about the qualifications that are required for the AG. It does not talk about these postgraduate degrees. It talks more about the kind of experience that the holder of that office has. We were saying that even for the President who is senior to the AG, the only qualification required is a first degree. So, for us to be able to get as much experience ---There are many auditors who are very good in this country who do not even have a degree. They have accountancy qualifications and they have been practising for many years and that is a practice within this field. The second issue was on the selection panel. On this one I was really out-voted by the Members because I felt that the Constitution says that the President shall nominate a person to be the AG and after nominating that person the name shall be forwarded to the National Assembly for approval. It is as simple as that. However, the Bill had created an entire selection panel with representatives from different organs of Government and the private sector. It had said that they would choose amongst themselves. The Member of the Senate was designating them to choose a chair. So, we felt that if we must retain that panel just to ensure that professionalism as well as merit is considered on appointing the AG, then at least let us make sure that the Chairperson of that panel is chosen by the President. So, the President shall choose the Chairperson and members as stipulated in the law to select and give him a couple of names on the person to become the AG. Clause 19 was an issue that we felt fundamentally had to be looked at. The Senate was proposing that the Budget estimates of the AG’s office find an almost direct route to the National Assembly for consideration. We understand the need for financial independence within the AG’s office. This is because for a long time, I can say not in this regime but in the previous ones, the AG’s office was starved of funds because the person approving the funds was the client of the AG. We felt that it is important for them to have some form of financial independence but not at the same level as the organs that represent the separation of power and the three arms of Government. The only organs that have the mandate and the ability to send their budgets straight to the National Assembly is the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Executive through the National Treasury. We agreed with the Senators that the AG sends his budget through the Treasury but the Treasury would not make adjustments but send it forward with the comments from the Treasury so that the relevant Departmental Committee that looks at the budget of the AG can then look at it in the form that he sent it to the Treasury. Also for consideration, we shall look at the comments made by the"
}