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{
"id": 1399981,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399981/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Allow me to commend the Decentralized Funds Accounts Committee for the wonderful job they have been doing and to also sympathise with them as well. I hope they are listening so they can receive my sincere sympathy. Trying to audit books of account from 2014 and 2015 and debts is a herculean task. So, they must have Solomonic wisdom to have unravelled this matter. This is also interesting and commendable because naturally, the standard practice is that after seven years, accounting documents are destroyed or declared redundant. How did they manage to review the financial books of accounts for 2013? Indeed, I must commend them because an architect can always redraw a destroyed house. I know the Chairperson is an architect and having been a Principal Secretary probably, he learnt the art of exorcising old ghosts. I must also admit that a number of Fund Account Managers who attended this meeting to discuss the audited accounts had not joined the Board when these funds were expended. Indeed, they grappled in the dark, but it is good to see their calibre. They were able to answer all the questions adequately based on the records available. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
},
{
"id": 1399982,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399982/?format=api",
"text_counter": 283,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Articles 95 and 96 of the Constitution bestows upon the National Assembly the mandate to oversight Government funds. Indeed, this is what Members of Parliament do in the National Assembly and also in Mashinani in respect to the NG-CDF. Firstly, I want to reiterate very clearly for avoidance of doubt, that Members of Parliament are not Members of the NG-CDF committees, at the constituency level. Secondly, with the change of the law, even when Members of Parliament by any accident used to sit in the oversight committee, that has long been reversed. So, essentially the NG-CDF is a completely independent Fund run by its own structures. The Members of Parliament only oversight, just like we oversight national Government projects. We can attend the launch of any national Government project by the President, cabinet secretary or principal secretary. So, our attendance in a launch or handover is part of our representation and oversight role. We simply oversight by seeking to find out what has been done. We are not directly involved in the management of this Fund. Reports are brought here, but we just oversight like anybody else can do anywhere. So, I want members of the press and everybody to desist from associating a Member of Parliament with any misappropriation, corruption or unethical management of funds at any given time. The Authority to Incur Expenditure holder, as the Chairperson clearly explained, is the Fund Accounts Manager at the constituency level while it is the Chief Executive Officer at the board level. So, if there is an issue, the people to answer questions are the AIE holders or the Fund Accounts Managers who also work within the local context. So, it is important for the office of the Auditor-General and all those involved in any form of oversight or audit to put in mind that there is a local environment or circumstances. During the procurement process, you can go to some remote constituencies and not get contractors with the required documentation at any given time. You impose certain types of plants and machineries, and expect some kind of personnel who will never be found. If we were to strictly follow the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, most of the tenders for small projects by the National Government Constituencies Development Fund would be non-responsive. Therefore, the funds would not be spent and there would be no value for money. That is why we always urge the auditors to consider what the law says, but the law is progressive. It is not stuck in one point or another. Even the provisions about interpretation of the Constitution state that it is a living document which must be interpreted as such and not as a dead horse, which you flog and does not respond. It is not only this particular Fund. Other funds like the Equalisation Fund work in very remote places. The Office of the Auditor-General should be realistic, reasonable, and alive to the fact that there are local circumstances that dictate different approaches to a strict procurement process that could be undertaken here in Nairobi or elsewhere. It is similar when it comes to building by-laws. There are adaptive building by-laws depending on the local circumstances. Some of the building materials that we use in Nairobi are not applicable in some places because of the adverse environmental and weather conditions. These are the kinds of debates that we need to put in place so that we do not just operate in a straitjacket as if we are robots who are unable to think beyond a reasonable level. Since the NG-CDF came into operation - and I stand to be corrected - if we conducted an opinion poll, every Kenyan would flag out the NG-CDF as the most impactful, devolved Fund in this country. Go anywhere in this country and you will see its impact. Last week on Friday, I had the privilege to drive all the way from Suna West to Ndhiwa, through Karachuonyo to Kisumu City. The only thing we saw were signboards for the NG- CDF projects everywhere we went. Around Katito Town, I stopped and asked the locals whether there was no county government in that part of the world, which looked like the western part where I come from. The only county government signboards we could see were The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
},
{
"id": 1399983,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399983/?format=api",
"text_counter": 284,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "the barriers along the road to collect cess and illegal levies. They told us that they only see county government officials hovering around with sirens and carrying special chairs to sit on during funerals. Once they are done, they carry those chairs, load them onto pickups and zoom to the next function. The impact of county government funds, equitable funds, and even their own source revenue is nowhere to be seen. That is why I call upon Kenyans of goodwill wherever they are to fight tooth and nail with their blood and water to ensure the NG-CDF is never touched at any given time. When your child has no school fees, who comes to the rescue 99 per cent of the time? It is bursaries from the NG-CDF. Any time the wind blows off a roof of a classroom, where do you run to as the first point of call? You run to the NG-CDF to assist you. When dealing with very mundane issues like when public health officers condemn toilets, where do you run to? You run to the NG-CDF. It is incumbent upon all Kenyans wherever they are to always train their eyes on how the NG-CDF funds are used at any given time. The money does not belong to the Members of Parliament. It is the people's money. If you find anybody speaking ill of the NG-CDF, and even contemplating or imagining that they can abolish it, they are completely abolishing you and your entire lineage. I wish there could be a bit of collaboration between the NG-CDF and the county governments. We could have done much more than what we are doing. Whatever too small administrative clerical mistakes they are, we urge Kenyans and the office of the Auditor- General to just treat them as they are. They are of no material impact. Therefore, I ask the Fund Managers to consistently ensure that we comply with the law at any given time."
},
{
"id": 1399984,
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"text_counter": 285,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(The Temporary Speaker consulted with the Clerk-at-the-Table)"
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{
"id": 1399985,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399985/?format=api",
"text_counter": 286,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Temporary Speaker is still busy. So that at any given time, we can get value for money. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the financial year is coming to an end. As we stand here today, we have so many CBC classrooms that are stuck. They are not moving because the disbursement has not come. We urge the NG-CDF Board to hasten the disbursement of the funds so that we can put in place rapid response measures to ensure that the classrooms are completed so that our boys and girls do not have to sit outside as they learn. Remember, in 2026, the current Grade 8 will transit to secondary school after Grade 9. And the pathways will require massive investment in terms of art studios, performing studios, science laboratories and the rest. We must start planning in advance to ensure that we are ready. The only responsive Fund that can plan is the NG-CDF. We urge all those who have got any infrastructure funds for schools or whichever, to channel them through the NG-CDF. It will offer better services than giving to technocrats who do not understand the local circumstances. With those very many remarks, Hon. Temporary Speaker…"
},
{
"id": 1399986,
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"text_counter": 287,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ruaraka, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. TJ Kajwang’",
"speaker": null,
"content": " On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1399987,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399987/?format=api",
"text_counter": 288,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
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"content": " Just a minute, Hon. Oundo. What is out of order, Hon. T.J. Kajwang’?"
},
{
"id": 1399988,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399988/?format=api",
"text_counter": 289,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Dr Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": " How can I be out of order?"
},
{
"id": 1399989,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399989/?format=api",
"text_counter": 290,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ruaraka, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. TJ Kajwang’",
"speaker": null,
"content": " You know, Hon. Temporary Speaker, this good professor will never be out of order, but sometimes he forgets that he is speaking to the nation. I did not want to interrupt my friend, although I saw that he has fairly prosecuted this matter. But looking at the House, I would have really wanted Members from Vihiga to be here. Although we are discussing public expenditure and how it should be audited by the House, it is important to remember that these funds are being used by the people of Vihiga. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
},
{
"id": 1399990,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399990/?format=api",
"text_counter": 291,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ruaraka, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. TJ Kajwang’",
"speaker": null,
"content": "My friend comes from Busia, but he is a neighbour to Vihiga. How I wish that Vihiga people were here to debate this more robustly, so that the people of Vihiga, as a people, can feel that their money is utilised properly and are audited properly. And even the Auditor-General who is not in this House… You see, there should be annexures so that people understand that this is money from the national Government audited by an independent Auditor-General within the law, and brought to this House, inspected by this House, and resolutions taken by this House to oversee those audit queries. So, Hon. Temporary Speaker, in that light, would I be in order, in the circumstances that we face, to state that this House is not quorate to discuss this matter exhaustively, and therefore, the Speaker should order that the Bell be rung?"
}
]
}