Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 867271,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/867271/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 157,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Makali Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "county only gets about Kshs300billion out of a budget of Kshs3.07trillion. The rest of the money is in Nairobi. So, accountability must be mainstreamed. It is hurting when one department or one parastatal misuses or misdirects resources of about Kshs7 billion. Very few counties are getting about Kshs7 billion. Most of them are getting less than Kshs7 million. Even as we talk about accountability at the county level which I support fully, time has come where we need to think about what we want as Kenyans. I strongly believe that this country has enough resources to meet our needs. It is only that there are issues of misdirection, misapplication and corruption. When you look at the Report by Public Accounts Committee, it is just attesting to the same issue of misapplication of resources. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you are the Deputy Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee, you know what I am talking about. As we blame the county governments, it is like pointing one finger to the county governments while the other four are pointing at us, the national level. It is therefore important that the National Assembly and the county assemblies come up with innovative ways of overseeing the departments and the county governments. Unless you do that, we will keep on releasing resources year in, year out, and I do not think we will get value for money. As I support this because it is important, the issue here is, we have a huge budget. I have said this very many times. The issue is not how big our budget is, the issue is how we are able to implement the budget we put in place. Even if we have a Kshs10 trillion Budget, and we do not implement it, it is as good as zero. We would not change anybody’s life. So, the challenge that Kenyans need to take up and the challenge of implementers who are MDAs and the county governments is, make sure that we make use of the money that we have allocated to the most productive sectors so that we can change the lives of Kenyans. Unless we do that, this will become a talk show. We will keep talking. Personally, I hate the idea of talking and there is no implementation. So, I want to support this as we move forward and say it is time as Kenyans, we said enough is enough and we started implementing projects as budgeted and we started demanding for accountability. We should all support our President who seems to be going in the right direction but we are seeing signs of people derailing him. I get concerned when I see parastatals becoming centers of corruption. It is annoying to look at the print media. Very early in the morning you look at the newspaper and you wonder what you are doing in this country. The first three or four pages of a newspaper are all about scandals. You then wonder if there is nothing good in this country to be reported on. It really concerns me. Time has come when as a House we will appropriate resources to the counties and Government departments but we will demand accountability. People who are implementing projects had better do their work the way it should be done. With those few remarks, I support."
}