Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 842991,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/842991/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "their Automated Teller Machines (ATM’s), which will tell them that their actual balance is Kshs314 billion, but the available balance is Kshs0, simply because of those operational bottlenecks. My Committee, the Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments, has already sent a letter to the Treasury for us to sit down and have a discussion on some of these challenges around IFMIS. There are counties that say that they at times have access to IFMIS once in a week, yet there is a Cash Disbursement Schedule that says that money should be available and budgets have been approved. We will bring in the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology and the Committee on Finance and Budget for us to find ways of improving IFMIS performance and performance of the systems that support counties when it comes to access to cash. The Minority Whip, in his earlier contribution, alluded to the Kenya Devolution Support Programme and its reliance on the opinions and reports of the Auditor General. I want to correct the impression that was created that the Kenya Devolution Support Programme relies on the reports of the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee; it does not. It relies on the opinion rendered by the Auditor General. When the Committee on County Public Accounts and Investment does its review, it does not change the opinion of the Auditor General. It might only accept mitigating circumstances and measures, but the opinion remains the same. It is the same thing that we have done with the Fiscal Responsibility Measure, which looks at Own Source Revenue. The conversation has been ongoing and I believe that the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget will update us at the right time. When we are giving that fiscal responsibility award to counties, it should not just focus on Own Source Revenue; it needs to go beyond that. I want to weigh in on the issue of waste, national budgets and debt. We are talking about waste at the national Government level. We need to be honest about the waste, corruption, duplication and inefficiency that is in the Executive at the national level and county level. If we are serious about dealing with our budget deficit, then we have to look at those processes at the county and at the national level. Counties will get Kshs9 billion less, assuming that the National Assembly agrees with the Memorandum from the President on the Supplementary Appropriations and the Finance Bills. The Kshs9 billion loss should not translate to Kshs9 billion loss of service. Let us not hear counties say that they can no longer offer healthcare because they lost Kshs9 billion at the national level. Let us not hear them say that they cannot build Early Childhood Development (ECD) schools because they lost Kshs9 billion or that they cannot provide water because they lost Kshs9 billion. We have had discussions with governors on their Own Source Revenue potential and we realise that every county is achieving just about 10 per cent or 20 per cent of their potential. One Member of my Committee, the Senator for Kirinyaga County, is always very keen on finding out what the defunct local authorities were collecting, what county governments are collecting today and how it compares. By and large, you will find that the defunct authorities were collecting more than the county governments are collecting today with their inspectorates, automation, vehicles and advancement in organisation. 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."
}