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{
    "id": 909843,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/909843/?format=api",
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    "content": "operations and maintenance expenses. These are issues that should have been foreseen and adequate budgetary provisions put in place at the beginning of the budget process. However, it is possible that expenditure cuts in the first supplementary of Financial Year 2018/2019 adversely affected the operations of those agencies. This underscores the importance of targeted expenditure rationalisation that is based on proper analysis. What we are saying is that, one, the total increment of about Kshs65 billion is being effected through supplementary and, two, it basically reverses what we did under Supplementary One. Therefore, we are questioning whether the rationalisation of expenditure that is done during supplementary estimates is usually based on any proper analysis. Members will note from the schedules that are attached on the Order Paper that most of the increments relate to salaries and wages of agencies and departments of Government that have been deprived of adequate resources for salaries and wages. That should not be the case in areas where there is proper budgeting of resources in a year. Hon. Speaker, allow me to move to recommendations. One of the policy recommendations emanating from these Supplementary E1stimates II is: (a) THAT, the payment towards meeting outstanding obligations on account of deemed generation by Lake Turkana Wind Power be subjected to a Special Audit by the Auditor General. Consequently, the findings and recommendations thereof be submitted to the relevant Committee of the National Assembly within 90 days after approval of the report of the Supplementary II for FY 2018/2019 by the National Assembly. This came from a recommendation by the Departmental Committee on Energy on an amount that was to go towards the payment of Lake Turkana Wind Power. The Committee felt that there was need to first subject this project to an audit by the Auditor-General. As the Budget and Appropriations Committee, we agreed with the Departmental Committee on Energy that there is need to first conduct an audit of this project before we allow any more money to be appropriated towards payment of the project. (b) THAT, the withdrawal of Kshs1 billion from the Civil Contingency Fund meant to provide humanitarian support to victims of flood incidences caused by heavy rains at the beginning of the year 2018 has not been approved by the Committee. The Committee recommends that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) takes up the matter and investigates whether the utlisation of the resources contravened the purposes of the advances the Civil Contingency Fund as articulated under Sections 21, 22 and 23 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012. It is important to note that we engaged with the National Treasury on this issue of the Civil Contingency Fund and money that was drawn from it during the heavy rains and floods in May, 2018. The National Treasury then moved the issue back to the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government. For the first time, we engaged with a particular Ministry. represented by its Principal Secretary and the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) who appeared before our Committee. They were accompanied by officers from the Kenya Red Cross Society who were given this amount of Kshs1 billion. When they appeared before the Committee, they requested for 10 days to be able to table statements of accounts as required by the PFM Act on how this money was utilised. It came to the realisation of the Committee that, as much as they had spent some of that money to carry out projects like building houses for flood victims and doing water projects – I remember a water project in Tharaka Nithi County that was commissioned by the Governor of that County – both the National Treasury and the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government did not ensure that money drawn from the Civil Contingency Fund was utilised in line with the provisions of the Constitution and Sections 21, 22 and 23 of the PFM Act. That is why we disapproved this amount. 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."
}