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{
    "id": 904177,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/904177/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": "25 governors will leave office. At the current rate, by the time we go for the next elections, they will be in the Isle of Man, Seychelles or some exotic places in the Orient. They will have taken off because we have not found a method of arresting the situation. Article 228 says that there shall be reports submitted to the Senate and the National Assembly every four months. That is supposed to arrest such a situation. We are not arresting any situation. This has become a lamenting House. I have listened to the Chairperson and he is lamenting about the late release of funds and slow implementation of budgets. Senators are accused of waiting for governors here and waylaying them in the Sen. M. Kajwang‟-led Committee. We are waylaying them here because we have no other method of dealing with them. We wait for them in Committee Room No.5 and take a beating. It happened during the hearing of Murang‟a County, where Sen. Kang‟ata was insulted. It has also happened during the hearings of Meru and Nairobi City counties. It will happen to all of us. However, is it enough to engage these Governors in a shouting match in the Committee when money is already lost? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, stealing through budgets is now official business in Kenya. All you need to do is to come up with a programme, give it a name that does not make sense and put in Kshs200 million, which the Controller of Budget cannot ask about or audit. The county assemblies are in bed with the governors. The Senate does not know that the National Assembly is laughing at us when we say that we are protecting counties. This is such a tragedy. Counties are slowly becoming the theatre of the absurd. This morning, the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance and Budget and other Members like I who are doing mediation had to stomach a lot. We have become a laughing stock due to the insinuation that we are using committees as an opportunity to just fight with governors, when we appear to be doing nothing. It has been highlighted in the article “ The Corridors of Power,” it is in the public domain and the grapevine that even when they come here, there are people they pay so that their reports look good. There are reports that the audits that are done by the county governments are being cleaned officially. It is called paper record. Somebody is complaining that budgets have been sent to counties, but there is nothing to show for it. They have disbursed all the money and we have such beautiful reports either qualified or unqualified. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the people of Makueni County keep complaining that this is corruption. They tell me: “Senator, there is a good report by the Auditor- General, but there is corruption; somebody is stealing.” I have been asking them: “Where are these reports? Where is that report from the Controller of Budget to say: “you budgeted to buy a car but you changed it and bought a table?” Who authorised you to do so?” With a recommendation from us to say: “Do not release the development budget of county „X‟ until you rectify this or surcharge somebody.” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Controller of Budget has never, in the last eight years made any such recommendation. It is always suggested that we should call the National Treasury and the Council of Governors (CoG) and have meetings. There is too much talking and no action. The person who should have given us an alert when the National Government refused to release the exchequer on time as per our schedule is the Controller of Budget. However, what did the Controller of Budget do? She found a way The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}