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{
    "id": 977546,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/977546/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 304,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I beg to reply. I am delighted to reply in your presence, because it gives me very good memory. The first time I ever saw you chairing a Parliamentary Session was way before I became a parliamentarian, in the 9th or 10th Parliament. You continuously execute your roles very well. Recently, I discovered that you work very hard and late into the night. Madam Temporary Speaker, let me proceed by thanking all the people who have made robust contributions to this report of the 7th Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) meeting that was held Hong Kong in May, 2019. I thank Sen. Farhiya, who seconded very well. She emphasized principally on the issues of lifestyle audits and what needs to be done so that we can track the monies that have been accrued out of proceeds of corruption. I also wish to thank Sen. Pareno, who illuminated ways and means in which we can fight corruption. Sen. Pareno is very much involved in issues of party primaries, and there is a lot of political corruption going on there. She talked to us about measures that we can take to mitigate this practice. If there is political corruption in the manner in which leadership is acquired against the provision of Chapter Six, then it goes without saying that it affects the whole structure of governance. I am happy with the robust presentations that have been made here, and the submission by Sen. M. Kajwang’, who happens to be the Chair, CPAIC . I share a lot with him in regard to what needs to be done to ensure that there is proper accountability of public resources. In fact, we have had a conversation which I seek to prosecute, as I respond; that we need to move away from financial audits to performance audits. This is a very important element of our audit process. People have known how to account for money. From the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) that we have just passed, we are urging the Government to move away from cash accounting to accrual accounting. When you do accrual accounting, then you are able to see the total picture. Performance audit also has social audit mechanisms that would require the civil society or the members of the public at the county levels, for example, to give their views on whether a project was actually done. What we have seen from the proceedings of the conference is that most of the monies are lost through the whole project cycle, and it is about those huge infrastructural projects. There is an issue that we need to look at in retrospect, as a Senate; the role of legislators who are also advocates. There have been very serious conflicts of interest where you have a lawyer, who is a Member of the Senate or the National Assembly, practicing law and also being a legislator. I wish they could be here. They are also at the same time defending Governors, who come to appear before us, and representing them in court. How do you separate powers there? This is the best example, not even of rent seeking, because rent seeking alludes to bribery; this is ‘clientelism.’ The issue of ‘clientelism’ has not been properly captured in law. It is, therefore, important that as we review our anti-corruption laws, we capture the issue of ‘clientelism’ so that you are disbarred from being a legislator who also then practices in a manner as to occasion conflict between yourselves and your client. It also applies to other advocates. 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."
}