{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=155220","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=155218","results":[{"id":1570382,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570382/?format=json","text_counter":273,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1570383,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570383/?format=json","text_counter":274,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"In Uasin Gishu, it will cost Kshs1.5 million. Why? The terrain in Elgeyo Marakwet is so hilly. There are hills and valleys. To construct a kilometre of road in Elgeyo Marakwet might take two to three weeks. To construct a kilometre of road in Uasin Gishu will take less than three hours. We must appreciate that these counties have very unique challenges. Madam Temporary Speaker, if you go to a county like Lamu, for you to access Lamu from Nairobi, you need to cross the ocean. The people of Lamu are not less privileged. They must get services, roads and a transport network to access the rest of Kenya, like all other Kenyans. If you go to a county like Tharaka-Nithi, a good percentage of Tharaka-Nithi is ASAL. It has been marginalised from independence. If we want to bring development across the country in a fairly equitable manner then we, as a House, should be in the forefront of making sure that the so-called small counties get additional allocation. Whether it is going to be affirmative action or whatever formula is going to be applied, let us have those counties getting a minimum of Kshs6 billion. Madam Temporary Speaker, if you look at health facilities in Elgeyo Marakwet, Lamu, Vihiga, Tharaka Nithi and the others that we call small counties; they almost have a similar number of health facilities as the rest of the counties. Every health facility regardless of the number of people who patronize it requires the same number of human resources. If you upgrade a facility to Level 3 and the requirement for a Level 3 is that you must have 10 nurses, five clinical officers and two laboratory attendants, it does not matter whether that health facility is in Elgeyo-Marakwet, Lamu, Tana River, Uasin Gishu or Nairobi. If we want to provide quality, affordable and accessible health care, we must provide that number of human resources required. Therefore, these counties that we call small will suffer an irreparable damage, especially now that the county and the Government is rolling out Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and is trying to make sure that every Kenyan, regardless of their geographical location, can access quality and affordable health care. If these counties are not supported, they will have a huge problem in coping with the rollout. I, therefore, persuade my colleagues in all the other counties to agree to re- look this formula with a view of making sure, that the least amount of resources that will go to any county is Kshs6 billion. Madam Temporary Speaker, having said that, there is now need to use existing Government entities to check on the funds that have been given under affirmative action in order to assess the impact, so that it informs our decision in the next development of the formula. If you look at the parameters like the poverty index, a couple of counties have got huge allocations by virtue of that parameter. It is time we asked ourselves; out of the money that was sent to those specific counties under the poverty index, has there been any improvement reducing the poverty levels in those counties? In order to boost the oversight of Senate and all the other entities involved in accountability measures, including our county assemblies, it is time we got an integrated financial management system that allows you, as a Senator of the county and"},{"id":1570384,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570384/?format=json","text_counter":275,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1570385,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570385/?format=json","text_counter":276,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"you, as a member of the county assembly, even on a read-only basis, to look at the financial position of your county in order to see what has been requisitioned, what has been approved, and what has been paid out. It has been paid out. As we speak, we are operating silos of financial management systems that do not talk to one another, and it makes the work of oversight and accountability a little bit difficult. In this age of technology, it is possible to integrate IFMIS together with the system the Controller of Budget (CoB) is using and the CBK payment platform and allow for real-time availability of data and the use of finances. Madam Temporary Speaker, this will not only apply to county governments, it should also be applied to the national Government entities, so that even members of the National Assembly should be able to oversight state departments on real-time basis, we avoid the wastage that occurs, and only deal with the matter when the money has already gone. That will ensure that the resources that we, as the Senate, keep fighting for to go to our counties is properly utilized. On the issues of accountability and in making sure that we have proper oversight, I thank this Senate for first accepting that our county assemblies must become autonomous. The position the Senate has taken is so that county assemblies will be able to perform their work. As we speak, there is very little oversight in terms of what the MCAs are doing in their counties. I am a little bit disturbed that when you look at the financial prudence now in the counties, it looks like the accountability standards have been lowered. I say that because in my own county, I am surprised that the executive in my county can have up to Kshs400 million in unaccounted imprest. I do not understand what kind of development is being done using imprest. Imprest collection is not any form of procurement. It is not any recommended procurement procedure. If you find a county with over Kshs400 million, in excess of Kshs100 million, unaccounted imprest, you have reasons to worry. That is particularly when you do not even hear anything from the county assemblies. We must strengthen county assemblies for them to be able to conduct oversight. One way to strengthen county assemblies is to increase the salaries of the members of county assemblies. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in their duty, in my view, I think committed an error of omission by increasing the salaries of the County Executive Committee Members (CECM), the county Waziris, to close to Kshs400,000 a month. We expect the member of county assembly to earn Kshs132,000 and oversight the functions in the county, while also being the first point of call of every citizen of this country, whenever they have a problem. Madam Temporary Speaker, remember, Members of Parliament are in Nairobi. Unfortunately, in this time, more than 50 per cent of the governors operate from Nairobi. So, they can also not be found in their counties. Who is left at the county level to deal with the general population? It is the MCA. Madam Temporary Speaker, we must live life realistically. We must be practical. I have heard people make arguments that, you know, fundraisings are not part of your job description. If an expectant mother comes to a house of your house, as an MCA and"},{"id":1570386,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570386/?format=json","text_counter":277,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1570387,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570387/?format=json","text_counter":278,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"needs Kshs1,000 to go to hospital to deliver, will you say that is not part of your duty or you will have to find a way of giving that mother the Kshs1,000 to be able to go to the facility? That is what our MCAs go through every day. If we want to strengthen accountability in counties, so that when we send resources the primary level of oversight is properly conducted, then we must empower the county assemblies. I must thank this Senate for giving them autonomy. We must now also give them the financial capacity to be able to do that. Madam Temporary Speaker, I know the courts have pronounced themselves in the matters of qualification. As is now in this country, it is only the governors who are required to hold a degree. The rest of the positions, as long as you are a Kenya citizen with a birth certificate, it is sufficient for you to become a leader. We do not dispute that you do not have to have degrees to be a leader. However, I think we need to put some bare minimum in some functions. For example, for you to be the chairperson of finance and budget committee in the county assembly, there is need for us to put some qualification there. This is because it requires capacity, to even internalize and check the figures that are being given by the executive and to be able to interrogate the audit reports from the Auditor-General. There is need for some specific qualification, for some specific jobs, so that we can improve on our accountability. Finally, there are still a lot of resources that have been left in some state departments that still continue to perform their functions. As a House, we must continue to reign on these state departments and make sure that these functions are fully devolved and that resources follow functions. As I speak, I have two state departments in my mind; the State Department of Health and the State Department of Agriculture. If you look at those two functions, they are about 95 per cent devolved. In health, the 47 county governments are dealing with close to 14,000 health facilities. The national Government through the State Department of Health is dealing with less than 50. If you look at the functions that are being run by the Ministry like malaria control, distribution of nets, for instance, does not require anybody to go to school. In fact, that is a function that should be done by our Community Health Promoters (CHPs). Now that we have a number of them across our counties, and they are even more distributed than the health workers, they are in a better position to perform the preventive activities of health. However, you will still find they are also responsible for distribution of nets in the Ministry. The function of nets is still in the Ministry. Functions like teaching and sensitizing the general population on washing hands is still domiciled at the Ministry. The Ministry officials want to still travel across the country to sensitize people now to wash their hands. On oral health, money is being spent at the State Department of Health to teach people on how to brush their teeth, something we used to be taught by our teachers and a few public health officers across those times. Why is this money still in the Ministry of Health? We need that money to go to county governments. We also need to strengthen accountability in county governments. The lazy excuse that has been used all the time of saying, “oh, there is corruption in our counties, corruption has been devolved.” If we are to do consolidated values of"},{"id":1570388,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570388/?format=json","text_counter":279,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."},{"id":1570389,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570389/?format=json","text_counter":280,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mandago","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"corruption in the national Government and in counties, what we see in counties is child play. The corruption that happens at the national level, funds are being moved out of this country. If there is corruption in counties, the funds revolve around the county. If you are to choose the lesser devil, then the money that revolves around the counties might even be easy for EACC to trace and all the other agencies that are involved. What happens when money has been sent to some countries? When we want, we are told that those fellows have diplomatic immunity. You cannot talk to them. Therefore, let us send the resources to follow the functions. Let the agencies responsible for accountability do their job. Let the Auditor-General's office be strengthened in terms of human resource. It is also another weak link. As much as the Auditor-General wants to do a good job, but with the little budget they are given and the number of staff they have, they cannot handle seven county governments, 300 parastatals and many other national Government and state agencies. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is need to enhance the capacity at the office of the Auditor-General. We ask the National Assembly to enhance the allocation to the Auditor-General. I disagree with the Auditor-General's engagement of private auditors to audit Government agencies, including counties. The inconsistency that happens when you hire an audit firm today to audit Uasin Gishu County, and in the next financial year, you have another audit firm, will make it difficult to track the improvements that are desired from audit. Audits are meant to improve. They are supposed to enhance efficiency. The reports are supposed to be used to improve Government processes and procedures. I would ask that the National Assembly adds funds to the Auditor-General to recruit more auditors, so that Government auditors from the office of the Auditor-General can be auditing all Government agencies, both at the national and county government levels. With that, I support this Report with the amendments that the so-called small counties, that every county must get the least minimum of Kshs6 billion, so that we can have equitable development and we can make sure that this country is moving as one nation. The reason those counties are behind is not their own making. It is the marginalization that happened over the years. The purpose of devolution was to correct that marginalisation, so that any Kenyan can be able to work in every part of the country. We know these are counties where you could post health workers and they would either fail to report or report, and the first letter in their files is to seek a transfer out of that station. Devolution has stabilized human resources in health. Even in the early childhood centers, we are seeing increased access to basic education. Therefore, I support this with the amendment that the least county gets Kshs6 billion."},{"id":1570390,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570390/?format=json","text_counter":281,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Mumma","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Sen. Wamatinga, please proceed."},{"id":1570391,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570391/?format=json","text_counter":282,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wamatinga","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to add my voice to this very important function that is one of the main roles of the Senators. A lot has been said about the allocation of revenue. There has been a lot of debate about the most appropriate formula that will ensure that all counties get the resources"}]}