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{
    "id": 842522,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/842522/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 140,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "There are a lot of expectations from the people that we represent; in terms of how we monitor and put our governors and the executives in our counties to account. So, unless we go by the model being suggested by my able Senators who have spoken; both Senators Sakaja and Kihika; we will reduce this into something that is like a SACCO, whereby the auditor will prepare reports, they are presented before the House, we summon governors, they give some answers, we table the report and life continues. I will give you an example. If you look at the audit queries from my county of Nyamira for the Financial Year 2013/2014, the county government set aside Kshs23 million to put up five boreholes in different regions within the county. The audit query by the Attorney-General points out to a case where this work was not done, where the people are not getting water from those boreholes and there is no value for money. If you look at the period that has lapsed, money was spent in Financial Year 2013/2014, and we are in 2018 and those queries have never been answered. How do we build confidence in the people that we represent that the money that we send to counties will be put into good use? We need to be innovative, we need to involve the citizens and push for social accountability where the people themselves can have a scorecard. Article 174 of the Constitution is very clear that self-governance is with the people themselves so as we budget for a project, we move with the people and as we want to finalise the project before we release the payments, the people must be told that this was what was budgeted for, this contract was issued to company X, we have now finished and here are the results. But we cannot just pay people, simply because money has been sent to counties. That goes against the Constitution, the Public Finance Management Act, and the expectations of the people. It is immoral and it is something that the Senate should not support. We will never achieve that dream of extending accountability to the citizens unless we get our oversight fund and most of us come from vast counties. If you were to traverse every ward of your county, you need resources, you need to organize the people, 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."
}