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    "id": 628016,
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    "content": "which is a major budget yet we have not received satisfactory answers. We have made recommendations that we must get one single register of these beneficiaries in every county broken down to the ward level. It is possible to do so with the kind of ICT technology that we have today. We would like to know that if an individual benefits from the Ophaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programme from the national Government, and if the county government has a similar programme of that nature, then that individual should not benefit. We have visited many counties such as Kiambu, Nakuru and several other counties to find out whether the county governments have alternative programmes to the cash transfer and we found out that they do. However, they do not care about what transpires in the national Government with regard to the cash transfer programme. We do not have people who are for the national government and others who are for the county governments. Therefore, as we deal with the budgeting process this year, we should get money to consolidate and get one single register where one can find out who is benefitting from the cash transfer programmes run by the county governments and the national Government. As it is, the money is not enough because we still have very many vulnerable and deserving cases. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that confusion is what is also bringing the issue of corruption. We have people who benefit from such programmes when they should not. However, this cannot be determined because the register is not readily available while others are done under the table. It is unclear who benefits and what amounts are from the county governments. This will be important if we are to account for the billions of shillings. Looking at Page VI, recommendation No.(iii); that the National Treasury should consider amendments to the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act of 2012. I challenge the Committee that it is not the National Treasury to do these amendments. If we feel that we need to look at the PFM Act as Parliament, it is very important that we look at these laws ourselves and give recommendations. The issue of a longer period to consider the budget policy statement is very critical. If you look at the way it is now, it is supposed to be submitted to Parliament by 15th February. However, they normally wait until the last day. If they submit on 15th February, we only have 14 days to deliberate and give a report on it. We have raised this concern because that is not sufficient time. We have really struggled with it at the Committee level. I know that we can do with more time. I, therefore, challenge the Committee to initiate these amendments where necessary so that we deliberate and get enough time to canvass on these issues. The issue of police housing is one that we have talked about, over and over again. We have talked about the demeaning conditions that our police officers with families live in. Some of them live in mabati houses that are not in good condition. We must consider the individuals who are allocated those houses. You will find that an officer has been posted to Mombasa, but has been allocated a house in Embakasi. We need to look into such issues so that genuine individuals benefit. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the issue of teachers is very thorny. We have always talked of how we have a shortage of over 80,000 teachers. We should raise enough money and put it in the budget. It is also very important for us to consider the issue of The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}