Osotsi Godfrey Otieno

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 851 to 860 of 1188.

• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: Madam Temporary Speaker, thank you for giving me an opportunity to also say something about the County Allocation of Revenue Bill that is before us. I support the Bill. However, I have a number of issues which I wish to raise. First of all, is the issue of ceilings. I have noticed that the ceilings for the county executives have been reduced but those of the county assemblies have been increased. For my county, the ceiling of the county executive has been reduced by Kshs100 million; from Kshs588 million to Kshs487 million. The ceiling for the county assembly has been ... view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: 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. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: This Bill is now proposing to reduce the ceilings for the county executives, which will really affect the operations of the county executive. Therefore, under Article 218(2)(c), an explanation should have been given on this significant deviation. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Schedule does not also indicate the actual expenditure and how much has been spent so far. It only indicates proposals to be given. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: It is important for us to know which particular county executives or assemblies are violating the ceilings. That information is not provided here. The Committee should demand for that information so that Senate can begin to act on those county assemblies and executives that violate the ceilings. The increase in the ceilings is suggesting that the ceilings that you have given are not realistic. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: Madam Temporary Speaker, on the issue of the legal services, I agree with the Committee that counties should have their own legal departments so that some of these cases are handled internally. Whereas we agree that Kenyans have become litigious, it would be cheaper and more efficient if we had a legal department within the counties so that some of these cases can be handled internally. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: We know counties are spending a lot of money on legal costs and it has become a cashcow for people in the county attorney offices to make money using provision of legal services by getting their friends hired to represent counties. They all went to the same law school; they should be able to handle these cases without having to engage external lawyers to do it at a higher cost. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: The issue of staffing has also been pointed out here. Some counties requested for more staff. However, we have a capping at 100 employees. I agree with the Committee that Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) and County Assemblies Forum (CAF) should engage to ensure that there is a review of the staffing levels within six months of tabling of this Report. That would be very important because some county assemblies have overemployed people and that affects the utilisation of the funds that we give them. view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: I believe we need to cap the numerous committees that we have in the county assemblies. The guidelines require that the maximum number of committees should be 14. I agree with the Committee that if you want to allow more, then it should only be capped at 18 or lower. This is because; a higher number of committees means higher expenditure. The composition of these committees is also a problem. You find one Member of the County Assembly (MCA) sitting in five committees. It is not possible to work efficiently in five committees and be very productive. That has to ... view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: I am sure the Committee will keep monitoring this. Put in place monitoring measures so that we do not lose money because of bloated committee structures in our county assemblies. There is also the issue of insurance. There is a request for increased allocation but, again, this is another area that must be watched very carefully. We can look at it in two perspectives; one, this is an avenue for corruption and two, there may be need for increase of insurance ceilings on a need basis. Insurance is there to cater for risks. Madam Temporary Speaker, let me also talk ... view
• 8 Jun 2023 in Senate: 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. view