Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 777081,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/777081/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 42,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "various submissions. However, some of these pending bills were as a result of poor classification. For example, a county may have a long-term loan, but classify it as pending bill. There is a need for proper definition in law so that counties are guided on what would constitute pending bills. We were even informed that some of the pending bills were fictitious. This is something that needs to be looked into so that it does not negate the whole process of budget making. You can then fit in what was not budgeted for before just because somebody committed the error. It is also important for governors to adhere to the procurement plans and regulations. They should not just issue roadside declarations of contracts and awards without necessarily having budgets to support the same expenditures. There is also a need to ensure that the scope of national interest is defined, so that it also captures county government interest, especially on matters, for example, the youth. This will then enable you to allocate more resources through conditional grants for endeavours such as youth village polytechnics. This will enable you reach out to so many people and also to support the new curriculum in terms of the establishment of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) classes and the payment of teachers. This is a big concern. We need to look at it carefully if at all we are to have a successful new curriculum that is geared towards the attainment of Kenya Vision 2030. Another key observation is the fact that counties seem to have serious challenges with regard to basic financial accounting. Through the Kenya Devolution Support Programme which is funded by the World Bank, there is need to ensure capacity of counties is enhanced. This will ensure proper tracking of public funds for the benefit of the common mwananchi . If counties are not even able to have basic financial documents such as receipts and invoices, then it becomes very difficult to know whether there was value for money in the whole process. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this House should note another key observation about the leasing of equipment programmes for the hospitals. We were not able to ascertain, for example, whether Kshs6.1 billion that was allocated in the Financial Year 2017/2018 was in keeping with an already agreed contract of Kshs4.5 billion for this equipment for the next seven years. If that were to be the case, it would require supplementary and if not, the amendment of the Division of Revenue Act which had already been passed. We are really concerned about the increasing allocation to the hospital equipment programme. We should ensure that the information and the criteria for such an increase is properly provided. It is also of interest to this House and is part of our Report, that the second Equalization Fund Policy is operationalized. We have realized that a lot of the funds that were allocated for the Equalization Fund were not utilised in the last phase. This is important because counties continue to be marginalized. It is important that this is done so that whatever amount of money that is pending is expended and new allocations are utilised for the benefit of Kenyans. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another key observation that we made was the fact that there seems to be cashflow challenges between the National Treasury, in terms of exchequer release, and counties. For that reason, counties have resorted to getting over-drafts from 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."
}