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"id": 932662,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang'",
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"legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
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"content": "value in the ECDs and education department rather than in finance. Therefore, I agree with the suggestion by the Senator that we need to amend the law and prescribe minimum qualification standards for people who manage books at the county government levels. There are also cases where the national Government is frustrating county governments. None of the cases speak to it more than the current inquiry that is going on with regard to the Managed Equipment Scheme (MES). Once again, even though this is a matter that has occurred outside the duration that we are discussing, it has been brought to the attention of my Committee, though informally, that the national Government seeks to take away the Universal Health Care (UHC) Programme from counties. The national Government is attempting to recentralize health care and health service provision by allocating a very huge budget for the UHC, managing it from Nairobi, where the principal of subsidiarity would have demanded that it would be better managed at the county government level. The other case that has been there since 2013 is the issue of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). We had a meeting with the Director of IFMIS and chairs of public accounts committees. The Director of IFMIS said that IFMIS works 99.9 per cent, and he was almost lynched. It was a sense of déjà vu, because I have also gone through such an experience in the hands of our honourable MCAs. However, it was because the report that the National Treasury was giving was inconsistent with the reality on the ground. The IFMIS continues to be a problem, interfering with operations of county governments. Another issue is that of late disbursement of funds to county governments. From an accounting perspective, the cash basis accounting that county governments use; if money is received on the 1st of July, then that money is for the new financial year. However, the National Treasury sends money, not to counties, and then demands that counties account for that money in the previous financial year. That causes serious problems and almost every county in this Republic opens the year with a surplus. In some cases, the surplus is close to 20 to 25 per cent of their total revenues. The surplus paints the picture that county governments have got money, they have got cash in banks as cash, and cash equivalents, and yet they still have pending bills. The culprit in that particular case is the National Treasury, which released money after the end of the financial year. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are other issues of political concern, like the transfer of assets and liabilities from the defunct local authorities, seven years, going to eight years down the line. Counties have identified their assets, but the process of transfer of assets and liabilities has not been effected. Our concern is that in the process, unscrupulous persons would be appropriating and allocating to themselves some of the assets of defunct local authorities. At the same time, unscrupulous persons would be entering liabilities into the books of county governments which do not exist. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Senate needs to provide leadership on this, because all the bodies that we have talked about do not seem to have any idea on how to unlock this. Everyone is blaming the TA. Even the members of Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Committee (IBEC) are blaming the TA, which folded almost four 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."
}