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{
    "id": 693304,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/693304/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Charles Njenga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for your guidance. This explanation cannot be true. This is for the reason that the figures and the numbers reported by the Controller of Budget is actual expenditure. That is a number supported by invoices and payment vouchers. It is not a commitment, it is an actual expenditure amount disclosed of Kshs615,143,048. A commitment which is defined under the PFM Act as a contract or an intention to spend cannot be accounted for as an actual expenditure. A commitment would be, for example, issuing an LPO or an LSO. The effect of a commitment is that it reduces the balance available per vote so that if we had a roads budget of Kshs100 million and then you commit Kshs20 million, the balance available under that road from the budgetary allocation would be reduced by the commitment amount. However, it does not reduce or does not impact at all on a number that is directly provided as actual expenditure. The sum of Kshs615,143,048 was actually expended without authority of the Controller of Budget and directly from the revenue fund. This, in the anticipation and the contemplation of the applicable law, is a direct violation. I wish to have Honourable Senators note the provisions of the Public Finance Act, they are reproduced for your convenience and record at page 76 of County Assembly documents Vol. 3, Section 109. This is deliberate. On page 76, County Assembly Vol. 3, there is a reproduction of Sections 109 of the Public Finance Management Act as read together with Article 207 which is at page 77 of the same bundle. Mr. Speaker Sir, at this juncture, allow me to read Section 102 of the Public Finance Management Act because it would advise us on the role of the Governor. As you can see from Section 109, these are responsibilities falling directly under the purview and the management of the County Treasury, which is under the CEC Finance and who is a member of the County Executive Committee. However, the law deliberately provides – this is very profound because it avoids the defects of “it is not me, it is the other person, it is the County Treasurer, it is the Chief Officer.” The law anticipated such explanations. On matters of public finance, the law was deliberate and I am reading Section 102(2). The law provides: “The County Executive Committee shall observe principles of collective responsibility in exercising their functions under this Act.” 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."
}