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"id": 904205,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/904205/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13219,
"legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
"slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
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"content": "action is taken, what is the purpose of you continuing to audit the finances of counties? We need to see action. In law there is something we call deterrence. You need to take action that can deter future occurrence. We need to send a wakeup call to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for them to take action. The other day, His Excellency the President said that there will be a lifestyle audit, but if you go to the counties, you will see that the lives of the governors have changed yet nothing has happened. In the counties, one will tell you that: “Governor “X” used to stay here when he took office and we also knew the assets that he had and what he has today.” In Nyamira County, we have high-rise buildings coming up and the people know the owners of those buildings. Was the lifestyle audit meant to be or was it a public relations exercise? What was it for? If it was meant to shake some people who stole our public resources, we should see heads rolling. No governor is scared of the animal called lifestyle audit. Are we in a state of hopelessness as a country? Is our state giving up or are we a country that is at peace as people steal the resources that are meant to spark development? That is not the way a country should be managed. The wage bill issue is not just a county government problem. It is a problem that is emanating from the national Government. In this country, we collect taxes from Kenyans, and some of them are extremely poor, just to spend 60 per cent of those taxes in maintaining salaries of less than one million Kenyans. We need to audit our Constitution. We have created so many offices like the ones that we refer to as independent commissions and given the commissioners huge salaries, personal assistants and drivers. Issues of land are under two components; the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission (NLC). Each of them insists that they are independent and are discharging functions as per the Constitution of Kenya. That is wastage and it is the same problem that has found its way to the counties. The counties are now spending more than 70 per cent of their revenue allocation on salaries. When will our counties catch up with Nairobi City County? We will never catch up. In Nyamira County, there was a staff headcount whose intention was to weed out the ghost workers. The report of that exercise indicates that 1,000 staff in Nyamira County are ghost workers who have been earning salaries. That is a sorry state of affairs. How did we get there? How can you have 1,000 ghost workers yet you claim to be the chief executive of a county? How can 1,000 people be in your payroll for the last six years just for you to wake up in 2019 and claim that they are ghost workers? We cannot run business like that. It is a jua kali way of running business. This problem is not just in Nyamira County, it is replicated in many other counties. The other issue is the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS). The other day, somebody appeared before the Committee on County Public Accounts and Investments where it was alleged that he had spent money on functions that are dedicated to the national Government. In yesterday‟s newspaper, the Auditor-General was quoted to have said that the IFMIS issue could be a gimmick for people to steal Government resources. The question is: Who created this animal called IFMIS and where does the 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."
}