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{
    "id": 842555,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/842555/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
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    "content": "attention of the country at that point was the lavishness, the luxury and the manner in which counties were conducting themselves. The Committee, having sat with the Governor and the Auditor-General, eventually cleared this audit query. This brings about the issue of compliance versus value for money. Are we going to clear issues because someone complied with the procurement regulations, or is this Senate going to focus on value for money on the kind of investments and decisions that governors are making? This is a live issue. Just the other day, there was an outcry over speakers who wanted to use millions of shillings to put up houses. This is a matter that is before the Committee on Finance and Budget, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). We need to come up with a model for houses of governors, their deputies and speakers to avoid a situation where each county is going to spend Kshs140 million for the governor and similar amounts for the deputy governor and speaker. Madam Temporary Speaker, another issue that was flagged out was that the Governor’s Office was refurbished at a cost of Kshs43.615 million. You will remember that Kshs140 million was spent on the Governor’shouse and now Kshs43.6 million was being spent on refurbishing the Office. You would expect a house worth Kshs140 million to double as an office. I have seen the Deputy President operating from Karen, which is his residence, but still functions as an office at the same time. Nonetheless, Kilifi County spent an additional Kshs43.6 million to refurbish the Office. Thirdly, legal services were procured at a cost of Kshs29 million. Those were legal services relating to conveyancing for the purchase of Kshs140 million-shilling house. Documents were not provided to the Auditor-General, but at the time the Governor appeared before the Committee, the documents were somehow present. What is interesting is that the county had a legal officer but still went ahead to spend Kshs29 million on procurement of legal services. Furthermore, Madam Temporary Speaker, the county procured ambulances at a cost of Kshs29.96 million and the Auditor-General had raised issues about compliance with procurement procedures. We have seen this across the country. Many counties are spending millions of shillings to buy vehicles. They put red crosses on them, assuming that a vehicle with a red cross is an ambulance and they pay a lot of money. The Committee raised questions about value for money for some of the investment decisions. Furthermore, the county procured tractors at a cost of Kshs41.99 million and civil works at a cost of Kshs122.8 million. There were a lot of procurement queries coming out of Kilifi County but eventually the Committee was convinced by the Auditor-General to clear the queries because he was satisfied that documentation had been provided. Therefore, the focus seemed to have been on ticking of boxes rather than focusing on value for money for the public funds. When we are concluding the discussion on housing benefits for governors, deputy governors and speakers, we should revisit the issue of Kshs140 million-shilling house for the Governor of Kilifi County. Finally, Madam Temporary Speaker, the Committee also observed that revenue collection had underperformed by 45 per cent. The county had a Kshs735 million target, but only collected Kshs495 million. One interesting issue that comes from the coastal 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."
}