Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 622793,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/622793/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 214,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kangara",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12543,
        "legal_name": "Benson Mutura Kangara",
        "slug": "benson-mutura-kangara"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I would like to contribute to the Controller of Budget Bill. This is a very important Bill in that the Office of the Controller of Budget is the only office that is mandated by the Constitution to safeguard public funds. All public funds are squarely in the hands of this office. I have been following the current issue of corruption and wastage of public resources. There are loopholes on how we use our public funds. I intend to bring some vital amendments to this Bill to give the Controller of Budget some powers to act. There is the issue of National Revenue Fund and the County Revenue Fund, which are provided under Articles 206 and 207 of the Constitution. These are constitutional provisions that ought to be followed to the letter. All counties are, by law, supposed to open Consolidated Revenue Funds. From the periodic reports from the Office of the Controller of Budget that are usually tabled here, it is clear that three years down the line, there are still counties which are violating that clear provision. All the money that the counties collect, be it taxes, rates or cess, is supposed to be put into their respective Consolidated Revenue Fund. The framers of the Constitution were alive to the issue of county spending. It is a requirement of the law that they have to seek approval in writing. The county governments should not be spending money anyhow, as they do. Right now, county governments operate ordinary bank accounts over which the Controller of Budget has no control. They are at liberty to do whatever they wish. I implore upon the custodians, who are the office holders, to safeguard public money. The public has no other person to look up to. These people have to work. Most likely, office holders in the counties know what is happening and are in agreement with what is happening. I implore upon them to do the right thing. We shall be moving some amendments because there is a lacuna in this Bill. If you look at the periodic reports of the Controller of Budget, for instance, the ones on the county assemblies, the Senate and the National Assembly, there are some recommendations. If you look at what has been happening, especially in the county governments, there are glaring issues. Some of the issues are criminal in nature. As it is, the best that the Controller of Budget can do is to highlight such issues in the periodic reports to this House. I will bring an amendment to ensure that the periodic reports of the Controller of Budget are taken to the respective organs of the Government, for example, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for appropriate action. People cannot just be writing reports and expect Members of Parliament to read them just for the sake of it. Some of those reports are bulky. We do not even have time to read them. It took me quite a while to go through some of the reports and see what is happening. The reports are good, but what else is the Controller of Budget supposed to do? Are they supposed to lament and do nothing? There is a lot of wastage of public money, but the best that the Controller of Budget can do is to just bring a report to Parliament and then the next cycle starts. We need to be 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."
}