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{
    "id": 945637,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/945637/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 396,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "issues that were raised by the Senate have been taken up by counties, improvements have been made and we move to other issues. That is the only way this Committee will feel encouraged and inspired to continue doing some good work. Madam Temporary Speaker, I was privileged to sit in the Committee as a friend of the Committee when my governor appeared before it. I was not impressed by the performance of the officers that the Auditor-General sent to the ground. One would be excused to think that the person who has more experience in terms of audit is the Chairman of CPAIC, because he was raising more salient questions on the accounts of Nyamira County than the issues that were being raised by the auditors in their report. We need to take up this issue with the Auditor-General, because we do not want officers who are incompetent to be the ones going to counties to undertake such very important tasks. Their reports are generalized. Madam Temporary Speaker, an issue that was raised by Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., whereby in one financial year, one will find an adverse opinion on audited accounts of a certain counties, such as in the case of Nyamira. Thereafter, in the following year, one suddenly finds that the audit does not have an adverse opinion on the accounts. He has now taken them a bit higher to a soft level, and says that they are only ‘qualified’. Yet when you look at the issues in Nyamira and compare it with another county, such as Embu, you would find that the issues that have led the auditor to return an adverse opinion on the accounts are the same. Madam Temporary Speaker, the issue of payroll would be a good example, because we have had serious issues in Nyamira. Several officers have been recruited without following the due process, without any public advertisements, and without provisions being made in the budget that certain jobs will be available for recruitment. You will find that in Tharaka-Nithi County, that issue will be picked up by the auditor, but when it comes to Nyamira County, that issue is totally left out Going forward, Madam Temporary Speaker, the Committee should escalate this issue to the office of the Auditor-General, once he is appointed. That way, officers who may be found to be colluding with governors to return favourable financial reports when there are issues, should be disciplined. We need officers who are men and women of integrity. These are people who can ensure that where there are issues of mismanagement of funds in counties, those issues are picked up. Thirdly, the issue of poor record keeping is appearing virtually in all the counties. It is as if people do not take it seriously that they have an obligation to ensure that once public money is spent, then you must have proper keeping of accounts so that you can be accountable to the public on how you spent this money. If an entity that has constitutional powers such as the Auditor-General cannot be provided with documents, what about the poor citizen who this Constitution allows access to information? How can we assure that if this citizen walks to the executive of a particular county, he can demand for documents and they will be provided? This is an issue that we should not excuse. We need to see some proactive action being taken by the officers in charge, be it the DPP or the EACC. Madam Temporary Speaker, you will be surprised; it is not failure to keep documents where the county is spending little money. I was looking at the case of 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."
}