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{
    "id": 924668,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/924668/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 545,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "regulations. The kind of loss and embezzlement that is going on now was never there, and the proportions were not as alarming as they are today. I hope that this Report will be discussed with the CoGs to see where they can pull up their socks to make their work more effective and accountable to the people of this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, we can talk about liabilities, but we will know about it because creditors will not allow counties to be in peace. On the question of assets, the component of assets is found in a lot of counties. It is true, as this report bears out, that there is no asset register. It is not known what belongs to the county beginning from the basics, for example, land. The Constitution has categorized public land in two basic categories. There is public land, which belongs to the national Government and to the county governments; or is managed on behalf of the people by the National Land Commission (NLC), but held in trust by the counties. You will find that most counties do not have a register of the pieces of land that belong to them. That is, therefore, an important question for consideration. There other things which are important in the regulation and which the Committee has talked about, is the fact that there are no audit committees. The regulations requires that we should have audit committees, which are important. The manner in which they are constituted is as set out in the regulations made under the Public Finance Management Act. The audit committee is important and has a powerful role to play in determining the use of expenditure in the hands of counties. However, these are not in place in most of the counties. I came across this when I was looking at the regulations some time ago. I asked myself the question whether these audit committees exist. It is in this Report that these audit committees have not been established by most counties. They are supposed to be independent committees which should be presided over by men and women who would know what they are doing. In fact, when there is trouble, we will notice them in advance before the Auditor-General is seized of it. Madam Temporary Speaker, the adverse opinion that counties have been getting from the Auditor-General is noted in the Financial Years2014/2015 and 2015/2016. If what is contained in this report is anything to go by, instead of those adverse opinions or reports coming from the Auditor-General going down, it looks like they will increase year by year. This is a confirmation that we are not doing things the right way. I conclude by saying that unless counties wake up and do their work, fighting for more resources for counties will be difficult. We were seated out there with Sen. Olekina and yourself, when one of the prominent Members of the National Assembly was passing. He reminded us that we should care more about the money that counties have been given and which they have not received instead of talking about increasing revenue allocation to them as a share of revenue raised nationally. He was making a point, but the fundamental point for us is to take more resources to the counties. That is not going to happen if the counties do not perform in a manner that will not embarrass the county governments and their people. It is the Senate which is fighting for counties day and night that will be embarrassed."
}