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{
    "id": 677007,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/677007/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 251,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. This is a very important Bill. It is very disappointing that we are debating it without any report from the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade. This Bill provides a clear framework of managing public funds, so it is very critical. It affects the national Government and county governments. We hope that before we go to the Committee of the whole House, the report will have been tabled, so that Members can amend the Bill accordingly. Clause 5 of the Bill proposes capacity building which is very critical. The budget offices in the county assemblies do not have the expertise compared to the Parliamentary Budget Office where Mrs. Makau sits. You find these are experts who came from the National Treasury. So, it is, indeed, important that capacity building has to be done at the county level, but not to be borrowed from the National Assembly. I want to agree with the earlier speakers in terms of why we cannot employ budget officers at the county level. Why can they not be trained or employed at that level? Capacity building in the 47 counties is not going to be an easy task given that the Budget cycle in this country is continuous. Our PBO is always very busy. I am saying this having served in the Budget and Appropriations Committee. You realise that PBO officers are busy throughout. Much as you want to do capacity building at the county level, we cannot manage to get officers from the National Assembly. My proposal is to allow county assemblies to employ their officers, so that they can build capacity based on the officers in their offices. One good thing about this Bill is the element of monitoring and evaluation of financial programmes. People want to talk about issues of finance, but we have many other reports that we require which are non-financial. For instance, our Budget is programme-based budgeting. In this case, what are the inputs, outputs or outcomes and does it resonate well with whatever we are inputting and what is coming out? This Clause is very critical. It is going to help us in doing efficient and effective monitoring."
}