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{
    "id": 833288,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/833288/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 277,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "There is also support for the Controller of Budget. There was a comment that they are using money for hardcopy printing. I support that. At least they need to inform us. Article 228 requires that once every quarter they get us a report. I know these reports have been coming but I do not remember us discussing the Controller of Budget’s report in this House. That is something we should do. Let me comment about the resources to the counties. This has been reduced by Kshs9 billion. Whatever shortcomings the counties have, we must support them. They should get the funds they require. Look at the accounting date we are using to work out the 15 per cent. It is the 2013/2014 audited accounts. This is not fair. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should work hard to get auditing up to date so that the counties get the money. Further, during the budgeting process, as the Member for Kitui Central indicated, when we were looking at the denominator for dividing the money for the county government, we used a fixed data. This is because the budgeting process does not allow us at the time of the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) to know the needs of the counties. I have said that through the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) and the Departmental Committee, there should be a need that by the time we discuss the BPS, we have a rough idea of what all the counties need. We are normally very clear at that point what the national Government needs. But we leave it at that with the assumption that the Commission on Revenue Allocation will sort out the rest. It is late. That is why we always have a problem with the Senate. We should look at the law and make sure that the counties get the money in line with their requirement. Lastly, one of the reasons as to why we are having expenditure is the structure of Government. I appreciate that creating some departments and Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holders will sometimes help the work to be done quickly. The other side of the coin is that when you create these departments, you increase the number of staff that you need. It costs money. Like in this Budget, you can see that Executive Order No.1 of 2018 created quite a number of new departments in housing, public works, wildlife and tourism. Even if it has really improved the work, we must realise that it will also increase the cost of doing business. These are areas we need to look at. With those remarks, I support this Bill."
}