Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 683473,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/683473/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gikaria",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2489,
        "legal_name": "David Gikaria",
        "slug": "david-gikaria"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me the opportunity to air my comments regarding the Report which has been tabled in the House. The Committee has done a very good job. We want to thank the new Chair, Mr. Gumbo, for the good work that he has done. At the same time, the Committee now needs to give us direction with regard to most of the things. Where there are shortcomings, the Committee can propose some amendments to either the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act or whichever Act so that we can be compliant with the law. One issue is the definition of who is an Accounting Officer. These are issues that have been raised in the past. Recently, when we approved and passed an amendment to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, there was some confusion which arose as to who the person in charge of procurement is. This is where we lose most of our monies. Initially, we used to have the procurement and evaluation committees. This has now been left to a single individual, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and it brings a lot of issues regarding who is supposed to be held accountable when questions are raised regarding particular issues. I think it is important for us to consider the time the Report is tabled, debated and approved. This is an important Report because distribution of revenue between the national Government and the county governments depend on the latest audited accounts. When Hon. Ababu Namwamba was the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), he used to complain about the delay in tabling of the reports. We should know that once the audited reports have been approved, they will be used to share revenue. I want to thank the Government because 15 per cent of the last audited revenue is now allocated to the counties. The percentage that is allocated to counties has been increased. As I was saying earlier, we need to know the Accounting Officer in the counties. We have seen a lot of drama in the Senate where a governor is summoned to answer financial queries about his county, but he says that he is not the Accounting Officer but somebody else is. The Committee should identify the Accounting Officers in the counties. There is also non-compliance of the accounting standards. If we do not comply with set standards in terms of auditing and reporting a financial position of a certain entity, we will never"
}