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{
    "id": 641615,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/641615/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 81,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ichung’wah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1835,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
        "slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise on a point of order under the Standing Order Nos. 205, 207 and 217 on the establishment of the Public Accounts Committee, the Liaison Committee and the Budget and Appropriations Committee, more so, relating to the submission of certain statutory reports in line with Article 228(6) of the Constitution which states that:- “Every four months, the Controller shall submit to each House of Parliament a report on the implementation of the budgets of the national and county governments.” My concern is that this afternoon, the Leader of the Majority Party tabled a number of Papers before this House including audited accounts of State agencies. We are yet to see the Leader of the Majority Party table the half-year report from the Office of the Controller of Budget. When the Controller of Budget tabled her report for the first quarter last year, it was not the programme-based Budget of the 2015/2016 Appropriation Act as approved by this House. I, therefore, seek your guidance for the Leader of the Majority Party to inform this House and the country when the Controller of Budget will table this Report, which is about two months late. This House ought to have received this report by January this year. We are heading for a short recess. It is not just in this House. There is a serious problem with county governments because what we do here informs how they behave. Even in the county governments, members of the county assemblies are unable to question or interrogate the implementation of the Budget processes by their respective county governments because they are not getting these reports. It is quite an embarrassment that even at our own level in the National Assembly, we are not getting this report. Secondly, we have also seen very many audited accounts of State agencies being tabled before this House by the Leader of the Majority Party. Many of them are tabled in the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Investments Committee. This is an issue that I raised in the meeting that we had with the “Great Nine”. This House ought to appoint an audit firm to audit the Office of the Auditor-General itself. There are serious issues that are going on in that office. We have raised issues in the Public Investments Committee. I am sure the Public Accounts Committee has also found issues that relate to the way work is done there and the way that office conducts audits in this country. I seek your guidance as to when we expect this House to nominate or appoint a firm of auditors that can audit, not just the systems, but conduct a thorough forensic audit of the Office of the Auditor-General. It should probably even look at a systems audit, including questions to do with recruitment of staff and such matters in the Office of the Auditor-General. This is an important office for this country. If we allow things to go the way they are, then we are headed in the wrong direction. We cannot sit back when two months down the line, the Controller of Budget has not tabled a report on how the Budget process for this year will be concluded in three or four months. We are going on recess and we will be back mid-April. We have already started working on the 2016/2017 Budget, but we are yet to get a half-year report on the implementation of this year’s financial Budget. I seek your guidance on this matter."
}