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{
    "id": 800777,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/800777/?format=api",
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    "content": "When I was walking into the Chamber, I heard the contribution by one of our colleagues; that as we speak about division of revenue based on the audited accounts of Financial Year 2013/2014, then we are not being sincere with ourselves. This is because I do not know the intention of the drafters of our Constitution when they talked about 15 per cent of the last audited accounts. At some point, if the Government does not hasten the process of auditing its books of accounts, then we will have to move a constitutional amendment, such that it will only be 15 per cent of the budget. We are talking about Kshs379 billion out of a budget of about of about Kshs3 trillion. That is barely 10 per cent. We are cheating our citizens that we are giving them 30 to 40 per cent, yet the truth of the matter is that this is barely 10 per cent. Therefore, the time has come for us, as Senators, to re-evaluate and think through and question our role in all this. This is because on many occasions the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the National Treasury has appeared before our Committee. We even gave him a brilliant suggestion at the end of last Session – and the Auditor General concurred with us - that it is possible to outsource the audit of Government books if funds are provided. When we asked the CS, the National Treasury, he told us: “Every Government department is asking for additional money. Where do you want me to get it from?” He does not see the importance of hastening the audit process. However, the truth is that it is not that they do not see the importance; it is because this delay continues to favour them. As a House, we must pronounce ourselves because we are the primary custodians and defenders of devolution. We must be able to tell the people the truth; that come the Financial Year 2019/2020, if we shall continue to do it based on the audited accounts, which at that time will be for the Financial Year 2014/ 2015, we will be cheating our people. Even when it comes to our oversight function, at this point in time, our Sessional Committee on County Public Accounts and Investment (CPAIC) is looking into the books of the Financial Year 2014/2015. This means that there is a likelihood that some governors who were voted into office in 2017 will get out of office in 2022 without ever having appeared before the Senate to answer a single question. As this happens, we keep on passing additional money to the county. This is a question that we must think through critically. After the passage of this Bill, what is it that we can do to answer, first, the issue of oversight and, secondly, the issue of the audited books of Government, so that we can send the right amount of money to our county governments? The challenges of mismanagement of the funds and all the other things are things that we can worry about later. What needs to concern us is whether we can continue to send additional resources to our counties and the desire by the national Government to continue to hold onto resources. We also need to pronounce ourselves on the issue of the national Government wanting to do functions that primarily belong to the counties. Those are contributions that I will address later on. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is the controversial issue of lease of medical equipment. I have gone to Kericho District Hospital, which is in the county that I represent, and seen the kind of equipment that had been put there. They are brilliant and extremely important, but of what use are they to the residents of Kericho County, if they 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."
}