Musalia Mudavadi

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 861 to 870 of 955.

• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: I have no problem with that, Mr. Speaker, Sir. That is quite in order. view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) The Minister for finance, in consultation with the Minister for Local Government, in a special issue of the Kenya Gazette supplement No.20 and Legal Notice No.22 of 22nd April, 2004, notified all the local authorities that starting the 2009/2010 Financial Year, no amount of LATF funds shall be disbursed from the LATF Fund unless the authority has paid all outstanding debts. There is also Circular No.MLG No.4 of 2009, dated 23rd February, 2009, from the Ministry of Local Government which further reminded the Local Authorities of the said legal provisions. (b) I ... view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: (c) The Ministry operates within the confines of the Local Government Act (Cap.265). The Act gives me powers to merge or create certain local authorities, towns or municipal councils, depending on the viability. To pave the way for more strategies, my Ministry has completed a process of reviewing the Local Government Act and the draft is ready for presentation to the Cabinet and, ultimately, to Parliament. The proposed Act provides for a number of rescue strategies. However, it will be premature for me to discuss the full details of that draft which is yet to undergo the due process before ... view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: However, I would like to add that apart from this, the Ministry has been supporting local authorities through the LATF funds to settle some of their statutory debts. We are also helping them to get into a debt swap arrangements where they will update their records say, with the National Housing Corporation, so that they can eliminate some of the debts that are due to the National Housing Corporation. In addition, we have also introduced under the Kenya Local Government Reform Programmes, major systems to assist local authorities in improving their financial management, and debt resolution is one of the ... view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said, we are not necessarily waiting for the Act. Under the Kenya Local Government Reform Programme, there are already over 56 local authorities that we have been placed under this programme. This is basically the financial management manual and guidelines for them to improve their financial management. This is an ongoing programme. We intend to roll it out to all the other local authorities. In addition to that, all local authorities must now have an audit committee. This was the committee that was never there. We would have the usual finance committee, the planning committee ... view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to tell the hon. Member that one of the most interesting things out of the LATF Fund is that this carrot and stick approach has greatly improved the financial management of a number of local authorities. Quite a good number of them have actually taken serious steps in reducing their debt. I think it is an important tool that the Ministry has been using to get the institutions to become more accountable. view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: The other point is that when the local authorities know that they are likely to incur penalties, because under the LATF Act, there is also provision for penalties if you do not view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the good news is that Tana River County Council is not one of the defaulting local authorities. It has been doing a very good job in ensuring that the issues of debt resolutions or penalties do not come their way. I want to commend them for that. The other aspect is that, I agree that this is a position that can be reviewed. However, it should not be taken for granted by the local authorities that there shall be an automatic review. It is, definitely, a matter I am willing to take up with the Advisory Board ... view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to give the assurance. We have made the appropriate requisition to the Treasury and we anticipate that there will be a budgetary provision for LATF, for local authorities. view
• 9 Jun 2009 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, indeed, Mr. Imanyara had also raised this matter with me and I wish to state as follows:- At the moment, no election should be taking place within the local authorities. Elections, in accordance with Cap.265, should commence on 30th June up to 15th August, 2009. This is for either election of mayors or chairmen of committees. So, anybody who is purporting to conduct elections at this time is acting illegally and the clerks of all local authorities must be aware of this. A circular will be issued from the Ministry reminding them that the election dates shall ... view