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{
    "id": 943019,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/943019/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Mr. Speaker, Sir, and for all the people that intervened. I was on the point of pending bills or irregular procurements. Looking across all the counties - and I am glad the Chair of CPAIC did actually go through each of these counties - a single one of them has escaped the poor bookkeeping that was very evident, that is cutting across all our counties and irregular procurements. A lot of the expenditure that has been incurred could not be supported in many of our counties. The irregularities of the procurement is also contributing to the high debt and pending bills. There is a vicious cycle that is observed in this Report where the irregular procurements are leading to non-verification of bills. Therefore, the bills then continue to pile up because they cannot be verified and the cycle continues as more irregular procurement occurs. It could be an issue of capacity but most probably, it is an issue of either lack of attention to detail or just commission where these bills then should not be verified. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have seen counties even in the recent audit reports where the counties have got a clean bill of health, yet we have 60 pages of irregular procurements, pending bills, irregularities in finance expenditures, unsupported documentation, unsupported expenditures and irregular payments before the procured goods have arrived. I think the issue of adherence to the Public Finance Management Act is very important in our counties. It is about time our counties started to take these things very seriously. I know some of these reports date back but there is no excuse why by now, these counties have not figured out how to pay their bills and have not regularised their procurement processes and have not kept good books of account for us then to follow. This is because some of the things that are brought to this Senate and to CPAIC do not have head or tail. We have looked at things where you do not know where to begin because you are told the documents got lost while there was movement. Some of the excuses and management responses are ridiculous. The same issues keep recurring from the audit reports to the CPAIC reports, oversight reports, quarterly reports, name it. I do not know at what point we will deal with these issues. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if it is an issue of capacity, at what point will we put the right people in place? If it is an issue of right systems, at what point will we put the right 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."
}