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{
    "id": 980267,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/980267/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 185,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": "The other aspect of blanket withholding of funds from the counties is not the right way to go. This is because that is not punishing the offender, but everybody in the county, including the staff that are performing their duties and did not contribute to those pending bills. So, the national Treasury, while trying to assist the counties in making sure that they meet their obligations, should not use a punitive measure which affects the wrong person; in this case, denying residents of that county services and salaries to employees. The same thing happened to my county, but they might have been paid this week. The whole of January they did not get their salaries. We also do not have drugs in hospitals, and it becomes an issue. This is because people are blaming the county governments for not supplying drugs, when they were not funded by the national Treasury. There are cases where you will find that most of these pending bills could also have accumulated in 2017, when we had elections. This is because some governors anticipated that they will win elections and gave out jobs to their cronies to entice them to vote for them. However, they were not lucky to be elected, and so they did not include those works in the budget. Those are some of the sources of pending bills. So, the incoming governor could not honour those kinds of expenditures, because they were not expended against any budgetary provisions. When those kinds of things occur, blame should be placed where it is due, and whoever authorized that kind of expenditure should be held accountable. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if pending bills are validated, there must be some way to stagger them. For example, a county can be given a particular financial year to clear the bills or pay some amount every quarter. However, if funds are not sent to counties, what will they use to service the pending bills? It is self-defeating, because if I have pending bills to pay and you tell me that you will not give me money until I pay, do you expect me to pay using my money? How are the governors supposed to pay those pending bills? Therefore, the national Treasury is over-stepping its mandate. It should not oversight or boss over the counties. County governments are different. If there are issues, the Senate should deal with them. Let the national Treasury stick to its mandate and provide funds to the counties. If there are pending bills, let them be investigated. The other time, the Auditor-General did some investigations and there are counties that have paid part of the pending bills. So, why tell them that they cannot be given money until they pay the rest? What will they pay with, yet the funds which should be used to pay have been withheld? My county had about Kshs7 million in pending bills. They paid about Kshs200 million and are remaining with about Kshs400 million. However, they were told that they 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."
}