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{
    "id": 683812,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/683812/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 204,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Rop",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1922,
        "legal_name": "Jackson Kipkorir Rop",
        "slug": "jackson-kipkorir-rop"
    },
    "content": "such a figure that the AG was not in a position to make a determination or give a good opinion on, yet this is Government money that we desire to finance our Budget. This is an area we have shared with the National Treasury. We were lucky to have had a meeting with the CS of the National Treasury. We are stressing this area because without revenue, this country cannot finance its Budget. Those are the major areas of concern. The issues raised by my able Chairman on areas of unsupported expenditures are queries that are very prevalent in several Ministries. In the audit report of the year 2013/2014, we were told by the AG that he was unable to get documentation for payments totalling Kshs66.7 billion. This is a very worrying trend. Looking at the figures for 2014/2015, I am happy the figure has come down to around Kshs7.3 billion. Accounting Officers should take the audit exercise seriously. From the memorandum of the National Treasury that has been tabled before this House, the CS of the National Treasury has instructed, through a circular, the Accounting Officers to take the audit exercise seriously, so that when auditors appear, they must make sure they sit together through the exit meetings to share the findings before they land in the final grey book that is tabled before this House. This is an area of concern. Missing documents in the Government is quite unwarranted because we have very able accountants who know how to keep records. They know how to file their payments. The AG going to Ministries to look into cash books and other financial statements only to ask for a payment voucher that relates to an entry he has seen and fails to get it is really disturbing. I encourage accountants in the respective Ministries and heads of accounting units to take the matter seriously. There were areas of excess expenditure. We have been told that over Kshs24,566,651,642 was in excess of the voted provisions that were passed in this House. These are areas of concern that we have raised with the National Treasury. No Ministry should be allowed to spend over and above what was voted for or what has been passed in this House. That means they are collecting a lot of AIA and not accounting for it, but this is utilised at source leading to an excess. They are going over and above the budgeted provisions. That is very wrong. It is illegal. We have already made our recommendations in our Report as has been read by the Chairman. We are saying that we should not encourage Accounting Officers to incur any extra money outside the budgeted provisions by this House. Issues of pending bills were also raised by the AG. Pending bills have been quite alarming in this country. We make proper budgets and expect Ministries to budget and operate within their means. But you will find Ministries with huge pending bills amounting to Kshs16.6 billion at the end of the financial year. It shows how poor our officers are in managing and planning their budgets. We should not be incurring unnecessary pending bills. I am happy that when we met the CS of the National Treasury, he also consented that some of the pending bills might not be genuine. When they went through, because all pending bills must be checked by the National Treasury for approval for payment, they discovered that most of the pending bills are not genuine. We are forewarning the Accounting Officers to come out with genuine pending bills that, probably because of the Exchequer release issues, the Ministry did not get the money and ended up making commitments and were unable to make the payment resulting to pending bills that should be paid in the immediate subsequent financial year. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}