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{
    "id": 73343,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/73343/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 343,
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    "content": "Ministries and departments, we do not just do so for the sake of it but rather, we do so because we have our eyes on the results and outcomes? The Government Ministries and departments should not expect that business will be conducted in terms of “last year, I sought Kshs1 billion and got Kshs1 billion and, therefore, next year, I look forward to getting an increment of 5 or 10 per cent, or Kshs1.1 billion” It should never be the same. It should be a business of asking for Kshs1 billion and you achieve this much with that amount in that Ministry or department. Therefore, your Ministry or department deserves to be given much more, depending on its results. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Report that we are debating is a repeat of what we have debated many times in the past. In all the years, we make recommendations and nothing happens to them. Time has come for the recommendations to be implemented. You know that we now have a law that requires that once we adopt the recommendations of the Report that we are debating, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance would be duty bound to ensure that the various recommendations made to the various Government spending departments are taken on board and action taken. The action taken should accompany the Financial Estimates when read in the House in June. It should properly state the measures that have been taken so that in future, it is not just a question of talking and talking. When the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance will read the Budget, we will ask him to simultaneously explain the action that has been taken out of the reports of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which arose from the report of the Controller and Auditor-General. You will also find in this Report, very many fund accounts. Some of them are in the Ministries while others are in the districts. These accounts year-in, year-out, remain unclosed for no reason at all. Some of these accounts have money while others do not. I recommend accounts such as Rural Development Fund Accounts, District Cash Fund Account and Civil Contingencies which is operative--- The other one is the District Development Fund Account. These accounts remain in the books of the Government but they are dormant. Could we for once, recommend that the same be closed so that a time does not come when a certain Accounting Officer or Minister does use them in a clandestine manner because they are still open? They should be closed and not be re-opened again. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you read through the Report, you will note that there is impunity or don’t care attitude even when accounting officers flout rules and procedures right, left and centre. Irregularities are galore because it appears like there are no mechanisms to bring such accounting officers to account. I am talking about the misuse and abuse of Government Financial Management Act regulations. We have many officers who incur or continue to incur imprest when we all know that Government officers when given imprest are supposed to surrender the same within 48 hours. However, you will find that there is a large amount of imprest incurred for many years on a continuous basis and you cannot explain it. Why should that continue to happen when we have the Government Financial Management Act? We also know that there is serious lack of a clear framework for disciplining accounting officers because they are appointed by a different authority from the one they report to. It is common knowledge that Permanent Secretaries and others are appointed by the President but they report to the Permanent Secretary, Treasury. Because of that variance, you will find the Permanent Secretary, Treasury is unable to ensure that these accounting officers are sanctioned or rewarded as necessary, depending on their performance. Therefore, there should be a review of the Government Financial Management Act to ensure that the appointing authority is the"
}