Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 842606,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/842606/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I plead with the Senate to ensure that we put these reports out there in the public domain immediately after this. Let us upload them in the Senate website to give Kenyans from Homa Bay an opportunity to look at the Report. It does not matter whether the current Governor concludes his term in a few years to come in 2022, but the fact that money was lost, he should be responsible for it. There is something called fiduciary duty or responsibility. You cannot explain why people are still languishing in poverty. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am not a very happy man today because the Tabling of this Report has come in when Kenyans are crying. They are saying “no, we do not want to be taxed.” But then, where are we going to get money from? I gave a similar analogy in the issue of Kilifi, but on this report, I seriously hope that my good friend, Sen. M. Kajwang’, who is my able Chair, will now move us to combine all the reports for Homa Bay. This will help the Committee to look at the reports for FY2015/2016 and compare them with reports of FY2013/2014, so that we see whether certain actions were put in place. If they were not, then nothing stops you or even our Committee from demanding that those offices be surcharged. That way, in the event that money was lost, that money is recovered. That is the only way we will achieve our objective and fulfill our duty as enshrined in Article 96(3) of the Constitution. Madam Temporary Speaker, we must defend the interest of counties and their governments. It does not mean that one person is the Government; it means that future governments will come in place. If tomorrow, my good friend Sen. M. Kajwang’ becomes the Governor for Homa Bay, he will inherit a lot of debt that he will not know how to pay. Everything which was being done in FY2013/2014 and, I bet, even today, was through restricted tender. How do you then come out and tell the people of Homa Bay that even though we used restricted tender, they got value for money? Madam Temporary Speaker, I agree with Sen. Sakaja when he said that we need to change. I want to assure Sen. Sakaja and other Members of this House that this Committee now, when it is interrogating these matters---It is only that we could not reopen this file because it had already been adopted by the Committee Members and our work was just to table and debate it. However, just like Sen. M Kajwang’ has said, nothing stopped this House from amending the reports. I want to reiterate that the Auditor-General must now look at the law. Section 62 of the Public Audit Act is very clear. Otherwise, this is going to be a never-ending cycle where we are talking about how the money is being misappropriated, when we are fighting the national Treasury because even in this Report, then national Treasury is blamed for releasing the money late. I would even support that the money be released late rather than releasing it early and then it cannot be accounted for. Madam Temporary Speaker, we operate under the rule of law. The Public Finance Management (PFM) Act is very clear in terms of reconciliation and accountability. Therefore, there is no excuse why this House should not look at these reports. Any member can say, “Let us visit Homa Bay and look at what was said to have been done in 2013.” Madam Temporary Speaker, with those many remarks, I beg to second. 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."
}