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{
    "id": 698602,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/698602/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Instead of the Auditor-General being in charge of his staff, that area was moved to the Public Service Commission (PSC). Therefore, having removed the powers of the Auditor-General over his staff through an amendment by the National Assembly, how can we blame the Auditor-General for not doing his job properly? This is a critical time. For some of us who have been in the Government service for a long time, at times the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) used to consider audited reports of six or seven years before when the people who were involved were long gone from the Government. The records would not be there by this time. At least on that one, there has been an improvement. The audited reports are interrogated on time. In fact, the audited reports for the Year 2015/2016 are ready. As a Committee we shall embark on considering them as soon as possible. I commend the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) chaired by Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'-Nyong'o, ably assisted by Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo. Whereas this Motion is about going for recess, in the last recess we did not go for recess. In fact, we doubled our meetings. We were meeting from Monday to Friday in the morning and afternoon. In one day we would consider three county governments. That is why we are about to complete. Otherwise, without that discipline and denying ourselves the recess to meet our people, we would be far from completing. Our people are complaining that we are never seen on the ground but we are busy doing our oversight. Without doing that, we would be nowhere near completing the audited reports for 2014/2015. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if we have to grapple with oversight this year, maybe we should not depend so much on some of those reports. We should take into account that corruption will be on the increase this year. We should enable the Auditor- General to do immediate special audits when required to do so. For instance, if I hear something drastically wrong in my county, I should not wait for the end of the year or elections so that burdens come up after elections. The Auditor-General should be enabled to move with speed, gusto and efficiency to do an immediate audit and our Committee looks at it urgently. The Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) should also look at it and that governor or whoever is involved is put behind bars. That is the only way we will ensure that corruption is not devolved to the county level. This should be done particularly this year so that you bring people to book. Of course, people say, “that is now politicizing; this is an election year why are they doing this now.” However, if you have to deal with the issue of corruption - provided we are objective, investigations are thorough, if we put the governor or whoever is responsible in, we would have gone a long way in succeeding in our mandate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let me touch on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and other institutions. We have seen in a number of cases the EACC going to counties with a lot of gusto and newspaper reporting. We then hear that people are being investigated in Nairobi and in county headquarters, some are on the radar and so on. After two or three days, the whole thing dies off and we never hear of that again. This demoralises people who know that corruption is going on. People then begin having unfounded suspicions that maybe something has happened. So, it would be useful for the EACC to, at least, keep people informed if they go in such big style with headlines and so on. Let them keep people informed that this is 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"
}