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{
    "id": 647438,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/647438/?format=api",
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    "content": "goods or services if the money has not been approved in the budget and if there are no funds that have been committed. The funds are released to county governments by the Controller of Budget on the basis of requisitions that have been submitted. Those requisitions identify for what activities they want the money. So, the money will have been released to them and it is committed when it is in their operations accounts. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, therefore, it is clear that what is happening in counties is that when money has been released to them, based on requisition for a particular activity, they divert that money to some other unplanned for activity which may not have been budgeted for and for which requisition has not been made. Consequently, when those other projects for which the funds were released are completed, there will be no money to pay them. I think that is what has happened and it is an illegality as per the Public Finance Management Act. That is why Treasury says you forward that list of debts to them so that they can take action. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, regarding Sen. Hassan’s point on reparation for losses, I think that can come through a legal action by the individual suppliers or contractors. In fact, in common law, you can sue for losses arising from a contract that has not been honoured or paid. I think that is important. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Sen. Lesan’s document called Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) is not a valid payment document. It is not evidence at all to show that there is payment that has been made and is not valid, including people who give you “I Owe You” (IOU) or any of those documents. I think they are not valid and it is a crafty way by some of the counties to try and hoodwink or mislead the public that they have settled. That is not payment. The payment is made against valid invoices, contracts and Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) that are submitted after the works have been certified as having been completed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have responded to what the Senator for Kakamega had asked. I think to trigger the Treasury’s action, we need to either go through a resolution of the House or directly as the Senator, write to Treasury. Lastly, regarding past debts as asked by Sen. Kagwe, if the debt has been contracted by a Ministry whose function has been transferred to a county government, then that Ministry still has the responsibility to clear that particular debt. However, for local governments or other institutions of the local authorities, these are subject to an audit that is pending which had been requested by Transition Authority (TA) so that the assets and liabilities of those authorities can be audited. Unless a liability has been audited and approved, then it becomes difficult for county governments. That is why county governments have not taken over those liabilities. Again, it depends. Some county governments have paid those kind of liabilities where they find the services of those particular institutions are necessary. For example, if you have pending bills relating to Kenya Power from a local authority, there was no way they would allow you to continue as the county government until you clear the previous bills. So, it depends on the individual type of authority. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is no time limit on payment. Immediately a 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"
}