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{
    "id": 607120,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/607120/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "On the Auditor-General’s Office, one of the challenges we face today in the counties and which many Senators have noted is the rampant misappropriation of resources in the counties. The office of the Auditor-General lacks the capacity in terms of human resources to adequately have a presence on the ground in all those counties to do real time audit and provide reports to the Senate and to the county assemblies. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have realized that very inadequate amounts of money are being provided to the Auditor-General and, therefore, we are also recommending that the Office of the Auditor-General be provided with sufficient funding to enable all the spending agencies to be audited on time. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in order to enhance competitiveness and reduce the cost of doing business in the country, we also recommend that the Government allocates more resources towards the speedy development of the various ICT parks, including Konza Technopolis. It is important that adequate resources are allocated so that these facilities can be developed. I have mentioned earlier the need to fast track the ICT policy to guide all stakeholders in the ICT sector, including county governments. We have also recommended that the spending agency should curtail unbudgeted expenditure practices that result in pending bills by ensuring that there are effective and robust monitoring units in this agency. We have seen that there are huge pending bills in many departments. The law is very clear that you cannot spend unless money has been voted for a particular programme or activity. We are using programme-based budgeting where funds must be made available. So, we must put in place measures to ensure that unbudgeted expenditure is not allowed in the public service. To boost agricultural production, we have recommended that the Government provides for adequate resources for research on the development of disease resistant food crops and the minimum price guarantee to farmers, which will act as an incentive to help boost food production. There are concerns about food production in this country, not just in the cereal sector like maize, but we also have the same challenges today, in other cash crop areas, including sugar. So there is need to address that. In order to meet the Maputo Declaration of ten per cent of total expenditure, there is need to ensure that progressive allocation to agriculture is made, both at county and national level. We are urging the Treasury in this Report for the speedy enactment of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill once the Division of Revenue Bill is done so that the counties can conclude their budget by 30th April as required. This is the point Members need to appreciate; that the Division of Revenue Bill should be published in the next couple of weeks and approved as soon as possible, so that we can have the County Allocation of Revenue published and passed in time to allow the county governments also do their budgets before 30th of April. So we have a tight deadline. There is also a concern about some of the devolved funds. We have recommended that an independent study be done to establish the impact and effectiveness of funds such as Uwezo Fund, the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) and the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), with the view to harmonizing their operations as securing capital to special groups. There are a number of recommendations that I have mentioned earlier on Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) and the Independent The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}