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{
    "id": 768608,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/768608/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 93,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "December 5, 2017 SENATE DEBATES 19 Sen. (Dr.) Ali",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I wish to contribute to the Report. As my colleagues have already said, the counties do not follow the regulations properly. There is fiscal irresponsibility and some counties which are stated to have followed the rules and even the 30 per cent development budget, for example, Wajir where I come from, have put up buildings which are of no use to the people of the area. They are just done for the sake of getting contracts to individuals who are supporters. For example, if you build a greengroceries store, yet you have no green groceries at all or a hay store and you have no hay, what is the use? Why build structures which are not in use? Some of them are now occupied by donkeys. Therefore, it is unfortunate that somebody would say that they have done very well and they are among the five counties that have followed the 35 per cent rule on development expenditure, yet money has been spent on such things. When things like that happen, you cannot call that development. I would call it corruption and cheating the public. With regard to delays in submission of quarterly reports, as my colleague earlier said, I would call it inefficiency and laziness, and it happens in most of the counties. I believe the reason for this was the decision by some counties’ leadership to employ young graduates, who were also supporters and did not know government procedures run, to replace qualified Government officers who were employed by the Transition Authority (TA). Therefore, they ended up creating problems everywhere. In the civil service, to get to the level of Job Group Q, R or S, you must have served for over 30 years. However, when you have a diploma graduate, with no experience, employed at Job Group Q what do you expect? These issues create a lot of problems in the counties; I do not know what the Senate can do about it. Some regulations and amendments must be put in place, for example, in the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act or the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), even if its time is over, I do not know whether Parliament would want to put in place another SRC given all the problems they have created. However, the wage bills and other things associated with that are creating a lot of problems in counties because of people who are not qualified literally and do not have the experience. If at all there will be a SRC or any other commission - although I will not vote for it – counties must adhere to the rules and laws with regard to issues of structures and who is qualified for a given job group. If they do not adhere to the PFM Act, I do not know how they will adhere to any other law. However, to reduce the wage bill and make sure that people who are qualified are in place, we need to have some laws in place which will provide the experience and qualifications required for every particular job. I do not know what will happen to those who are serving and not qualified. On the issue of disbursement of funds, we will have to support them. The Senate must support the counties, so that at least they get disbursement on time. The Treasury’s Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) causes a lot of unnecessary delays and havoc in counties. Sometimes they cannot even get their salaries because of these delays. The IFMIS must somehow be enhanced. If the Government does not have money it does not have to go and harass the counties anyway. That is a fact and the counties really suffer sometimes because of lack of money. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}