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{
    "id": 611841,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/611841/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 234,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "Four minutes? Okay, I will move very fast. The Office of the Auditor-General is very critical. It has so many powers but who oversees its functions? When you look at the Constitution, it talks of the Parliament. However, I have gone through the Act and I have not seen the answer. The Auditor-General is very powerful. It is important that we put some framework to check his powers to avoid abuse of power. I serve in the Public Investments Committee (PIC) where the Auditor-General brings reports to us which form the basis of our work. I want to say that most of the reports are not timely. They come late. If there are issues of corruption, they are overtaken by time. It is my humble request as we speak today - I know the Auditor- General is listening - that we get timely reports. We cannot intervene if reports come when events have already taken place. When it comes to the Budget and Appropriations Committee which I serve, we tried to increase their budget allocation. I have seen in many occasions the Auditor-General complaining that the funds allocated to him are not enough. He has a shortage of personnel. I know we are going to add more funds to strengthen that office. My humble request again is that the Auditor-General should try as much as possible in the spirit of devolution to have an operating office in every county. Right now we know a lot of misappropriation of funds is going on in the county governments because a lot is going unchecked. I was just looking at some of the offences. It is very clear that anybody from the Audit Office who fails to disclose conflict of interest commits an offence. We know so much has been going on and it is important that there is disclosure. We are getting conflicting reports. I am saying this because of one case that I am aware of. We had reports of misappropriation of funds, violation of procurement rules in some referral hospital but we were shocked when the Auditor-General moved in and within two months, these people were given a clean bill of health. So we were wondering whether it was done objectively or the issues of conflict of interest and bribery were there. I was also looking at Clause 10 which provides for independence. I do not think it is going to work because of this issue of the advisory board. The way you have listed the functions of the advisory board is like you have a school; you have the Chief Executive Officer and a board of management. The board instructs the Auditor-General on what to do. When we come to the Committee of the whole House, we have to move some amendments because the level of independence is questionable. When you look at Clause 12, it talks about the Deputy Auditor-General. It is good for purposes of succession planning. When you look at Clause 20(2) where we will bring an amendment, we are told: 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."
}