Cabinet approves last two Bills

Written By:Margaret Kalekye/PPS,    Posted: Tue, Aug 23, 2011

The Cabinet has approved the last two Constitutional Implementation Bills, meeting the August 27th deadline. All eyes are now on Parliament that has to approve 17 Bills by Friday. The Bills which are required to have been passed within a year, since promulgation of the constitution are: The Contingencies Fund and County Emergencies Bill 2011. The Bill gives effect to the implementation of article 208 of the Constitution and establishes a contingency fund whose operation will be in accordance with an act of Parliament. The national government is required to seek the approval of Parliament of any spending from the contingency fund. Furthermore the bill creates an emergency fund under the county governments and gives effect to the disaster management which is one of the functions apportioned to the county governments. National Government Loans Guarantee Bill 2011. The Bill seeks to give effect to articles 212 and 213 of the Constitution. It allows for the national government to provide loan guarantees in a transparent, prudent and equitable manner. In that regard it provides for a period of publication of guarantees to all loans guaranteed and also provides for the manner in which the national government can take responsibility in the event of default. President Mwai Kibaki who chaired the meeting held Tuesday morning at State House commended all persons and institutions within the public service and all stakeholders for working extremely hard to finalize Bills within the times stipulated in the Constitution.