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{
    "id": 976435,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/976435/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 197,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Usonga, ODM): Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to speak on the Report on the audited statements of the Uwezo Fund. I have gone through the Report and I agree with it entirely. I am one of the Members of Parliament who have been heavily affected by the operations of the Uwezo Fund. We have not disbursed a single coin since I took over because of the rule which requires that only the people who have recovered more than 50 per cent of their disbursements are allowed to continue undertaking further disbursements. When I took over, my predecessor did not manage the Fund very well. The funds were disbursed to phantom groups that have become very difficult to recover coupled with the fact that the Uwezo Fund does not allocate sufficient resources for the committee on the ground to operate. I love one of the recommendations in the Report that is asking the boards to allocate, at least, 5 per cent of the allocations to the committee for operations. I agree with them because this is going to ensure that the committee can run around together with the other agencies to recover the resources. Also, I find that the regulation that you can only disburse once you have recovered more than 50 per cent of the disbursements as punitive. I agree with the Report because it has outlined that we need to possibly amend this regulation and allow groups that are doing very well in business and repaying the loan to take more funds from the Uwezo Fund. This is what may be affecting a number of us and interfering with the operations of the Fund. Because of my team’s inability to recover the loans from the phantom groups, the resources in the account are lying idle. We cannot receive further resources into the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) kitty for my constituency. So, I think this audit Report has been properly done and I urge the House to pass it, so that the resolutions therein can be immediately implemented to allow the Fund to create impact on the ground. One of the objectives of the Fund is to facilitate groups to benefit from other resources in Government such as the 30 per cent allocation of tenders reserved for youth groups and women. On this one, there has not been sufficient capacity for the constituency committees to train groups to benefit from the resources. I urge that once this Report is passed by the House, it is adopted immediately and resolutions passed to allow the Fund to be more effective. The audit Report has addressed some of the challenges that the Fund has experienced over the years. If it is passed, the Fund will benefit Kenyans as envisaged. 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."
}