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{
    "id": 865166,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/865166/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 332,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiminini, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Chris Wamalwa",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Chairman. Hon. Nyamita needs to understand the Standing Orders. He has been in this House for long. When a matter is on the Order Paper, it is actually the property of the Committee. I want to salute Hon. Tonui for what he has put in place. It is indeed true that we have a lot of pending bills at the national and county levels of the Government. The questions we normally ask the governors are why we have pending bills and whether the money was given as per the Division of Revenue Bill. We are told that the money was given but they received it a bit late. The question then is why they did not pay. I understand what Hon. Tonui is trying to put in place. We have been discussing with my neighbour here. It makes a lot of sense but in matters of law, the Constitution takes precedence. It is followed by the statutes and then the regulations. That is the order. Let us look at the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act. You know, I speak with authority because I sit in the Public Investments Committee (PIC). These are some of the critical issues that the Auditor-General raises if he comes upon auditing the accounts of a given parastatal or any Government entity if there was procurement that was done and yet money had not been provided for. It raises an audit query. After the Division of Revenue Act, where the national Government and the county governments know their share, it is the responsibility of the county government, after the money has been provided, to develop something called “procurement plan”. You can only have a procurement plan if the money has been budgeted for. So, as much as what Hon. Tonui is bringing in place is making sense, when you look at the PFM Act, you will see that it is provided for therein. Secondly, when you look at the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, it is also provided for therein. So, the issue here is to see how we can do the delicate balance. This is because in the PIC, where I sit and where your clerks sit, if the Auditor-General comes and finds that you have pending bills and that money was not provided for, it brings an audit query. So, it is an assumption that you can only procure goods in the procurement plan after the money has been provided for or the budget is there. After the budget, you come to the procurement plan. From the procurement plan, you procure and you pay. It follows that sequence. However, when it comes to implementation, the process is not followed. That is why there are audit queries. Anybody who sits in the oversight committees – PAC, PIC and SFAC – will actually agree with me. Whatever we are doing is good. We are cleaning up, but it is already provided for. However, now that it has been allowed and it has come here, it is upon the House to decide on the way forward."
}