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"id": 892815,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Eldas, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Adan Keynan",
"speaker": {
"id": 41,
"legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
"slug": "adan-keynan"
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"content": "different reforms tailored for different issues. So, if it is the desire of this House to undertake serious electoral reforms, as individuals or collectively as a House, we are at liberty to initiate it. I want to thank those who brought an important law referred to as the Fair Administrative Act which was meant to safeguard against abuse of power just like what we were about to see. I thank the Speaker for having stood firmly to jealously protect the roles of Parliament. We hope that that will serve as a lesson in future to any individual, committee or institution that will attempt to circumvent the rule of law. Having said that, the functions of an accounting officer are clearly spelt out in our laws. We have the Public Finance Management Act, and for purposes of this Report, we have the IEBC Act. The Mandate of the Secretariat - I serve as a Commissioner of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), and, therefore, I understand the work of commissioners and the work of the Secretariat - led by the CEO is accounting. It is accounting group. The CEO is the accounting officer. The commissioners play an oversight role. Therefore, mixing these issues may negate that. I do not want, in any way, to say that money was not wasted. Obviously, it was wasted. That is why the Auditor-General flagged out a number of areas where there was abuse. These are things that you must be prepared to deal with. If somebody has abused power, wasted public resources and improperly spent tax-payers money, they must be dealt with in accordance with the law. I thank the Auditor-General. In the past, we used to see audit reports that were dated back to four or five years. This Report is of audit accounts of the IEBC dated 30th June, 2017. Over the years, I have been asking Parliament to empower the office of the Auditor-General in terms of human resource capital and financial support. If we do that, I can assure you that tax-payers will get value for money. Because the Auditor-General has done a commendable job, it is the role of parliament to be a neutral arbiter. Sometimes I wonder. As Parliament, if we look at the process of allocating the budget and votes, departments are expected to utilise the allocations and the Auditor-General is expected to audit how that money is utilised. Therefore, it will still come back to Parliament to act as a neutral arbiter by midwifing the report of the Auditor-General taking into account public views. That is why it is wrong for any committee and any Member to usurp the functions of the Auditor-General. I do not have a problem with the Report as it is now. What I had a problem with were the parts that have been expunged as a result of the Speaker’s considered ruling. Therefore, in future, I beg the leadership of PAC or any other oversight committee to always remain relevant to the issues before them. That is why PAC and PIC normally deal with post audit reports. That means that they get reports that have been prepared by the Auditor-General, tabled before this House and committed to the particular committee. That is the way the House is seized with the reports. So, what the committee is supposed to do is to act as an independent and neutral arbiter by allowing the office of the Auditor-General to interact with the particular public entity that has been audited. Therefore, that role must not be lost. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is also a reality that we have struggled over the years to completely ensure that the office of the Auditor-General and its reports are not politicised. In the past, the office of the Auditor-General used to work under political pressure. In the current Constitution, every constitutional office holder is accountable to the people of Kenya. Therefore, this is something that we must always be proud of unlike when the office of the Auditor-General was accountable to certain individuals and political offices. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}