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"speaker": null,
"content": "(Applause)"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 16,
"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
"slug": "farah-maalim"
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"content": " Hon. Mayaka Irene."
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{
"id": 1503234,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Irene Mayaka",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this Bill. We are a country that rarely celebrates our people. Hon. Wamuchomba reminded me of a young man called Richard Turere who, in 2013, was honoured at the TED Conference because he discovered the lion light that enabled him to chase away lions from humans and cows without interfering with the environment. This particular young man was discovered and celebrated outside our country before we even celebrated him. So, Bills like this one enable us to protect our own local resources. Kenyans often speak about ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’, but we do not have laws in place to protect it. The first clause that I really like in this Bill is Clause 14, which seeks to amend Section 9. I like this clause because it speaks about technology. We cannot protect our knowledge and skills without technology because we are rapidly moving into a space where technology is a very important aspect. Therefore, if it were up to me, I would ensure that each and every law in this country includes a component for protecting the technology space. But unfortunately, we do not have enough time for that. Clause 9 which amends Section 14 states that debarment of international agencies recognised by Kenya shall be considered to have been debarred in Kenya as well. This is very familiar because it speaks to a recent issue in the news about the Adani Group being banned in another country while we were in the process of onboarding them in Kenya until the President cancelled their contract, which was very magnanimous of him. This clause seeks to protect against such scenarios so that foreign investors who have been debarred in another country are not allowed to operate in our country. Clause 11 which amends Section 53 states that any procurement of less than Ksh1 billion shall be awarded to a local firm. This is very progressive because many local firms have been affected by past laws that saw them competing with foreign companies. It further goes on to say that any foreign firm must enter into a joint venture procurement with a local firm for no less than 30 per cent. This reminds me of the Worldcoin inquiry. One of the issues we were grappling with was that this particular foreign organisation had procured the services of Kenyan organisations, but they were still the ones that were fully benefiting from it. We did not have laws in place to protect the spaces of local investors and so, this is another very good clause. Clause 14 which seeks to amend Section 83(2) of the Act, speaks about due diligence and the evaluation committee of any procurement that has been done. It speaks about visiting the contractor’s offices, inspecting of plant, equipment and completed works. In most cases, people do not go out of their way to ensure that they have done a proper inspection of jobs before payment is made. This will ensure that before you are paid for a job you have been contracted to do, there must be field site visits and proper documentation before that payment is made. Clause 15 which seeks to amend Section 86 prohibits citizen contractors who become successful tenderers from subcontracting to foreign companies unless the knowledge, skills, goods, and services are not available in the country. On this particular one, I will probably bring an amendment because, in my opinion, it should also apply the other way around. It should not be just one way. In cases where a foreign company has been given a contract and they need to subcontract another foreign company for some skills and knowledge, they should not be allowed to do that. This amendment only works one way; it does not focus on the foreign company that has been awarded a contract beyond Ksh1 billion, which seeks to look for services from elsewhere."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Irene Mayaka",
"speaker": null,
"content": "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."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Irene Mayaka",
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"content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, I will conclude here so as to allow other Members to speak. I can go on and on about all refreshing clauses in this Bill. For me, once passed to become law, I want to emphasise that this Bill does not just become paperwork put in stores and not implemented. I urge us to make sure that it is implemented fully and that it actually works for local manufacturers and firms. Having said that, I support and submit. Thank you."
},
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 16,
"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
"slug": "farah-maalim"
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"content": " Member for Nandi Hills."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nandi Hills, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Bernard Kitur",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much. I support the Bill brought by the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, having been previously sponsored by the Chairman of the Committee who is Hon. Kimani Kuria. I feel the Bill is extremely progressive. The Bill is of its own kind. It will have a great impact on the business people of this nation. In line with the recent State of the Nation Address, the President mentioned that he wants procurement systems to go online. Part of the proposals in the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (Amendment) Bill are so progressive and wide. Their impact will be for the benefit of Kenyans, particularly business people and the manufacturing community of locally available products. The Bill is wide. I will just pick a few clauses. Clause 3(4) ensures that procurement contracts subjected to international provisions adhere to local procurement laws. In overview, that domesticates most procurements or institutions that want tenders to favour them because they are from foreign jurisdictions. Secondly, Clause 4 and a couple others talk about the monitoring and evaluation of technology and knowledge skill transfers. They tend to say that tenders that include transfer of knowledge must have annual reports. This is good. It will provide a mechanism to know some of the benefits we can get through procurement processes made. There will be a list or something that shows the benefits that came to the country from a procurement process or service ordered from abroad since we did not have the local knowledge but we now have. This is a very good one. Clause 5 also captured my attention. There is an expansion of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA). There was an inclusion of the Law Society of Kenya. I also noticed there is the representation of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya and Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM). This continues to widen and bring in a diverse knowledge and persons from every quarter of our nation. The entire place widens. Clause 6 seeks to amend Section 33. It has really captured my attention. For procurement in a particular county, precedence goes to manufacturers or products manufactured in the county. This is incredible. If there is anything that we can celebrate, it is this Bill. In fact, one of the sections I will capture also mentions that we should give bidding preference and jobs to businessmen in a particular county. Section 44 captures what I mentioned—the aspect of technology, knowledge and skills transfer from foreign firms as we continue to prioritise locally produced products. I think the Bill has asserted that as much. Clause 11 that amends Section 53 is the most radical. It is on penalties awarded to persons that register firms on behalf of foreign firms to profit from procurement that falls within the prescribed thresholds. Of course, it talks about that. We raised the threshold from Ksh500 million to Ksh1 billion for the local contractors. In my view, I feel that the sponsor of the Bill needs to tighten it even more. The Ksh5 million for me is low. Let it be made very tough. We could even do Ksh10 million so that it becomes a deterrence. Everybody must follow this law because it is going to empower us as a nation. For anything above Ksh1 billion, 30 per cent of the extra services, one must demonstrate what the locals are getting."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nandi Hills, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Bernard Kitur",
"speaker": null,
"content": "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."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nandi Hills, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Bernard Kitur",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, Clause 15 of the Bill seeks to amend Section 86. A foreign company is not supposed to be contracted unless the knowledge, skills, goods and services it offers are not available in the country. This is very radical because it will then force anybody who wins a tender to source locally if you are not able to get those people with the skill or those who have the knowledge for that specific item that has been procured. Section 135 that is Clause 17 still calls to buttress the issue of the inclusion of the part of the tender document on the transfer of skills and technology plan. It seeks to buttress that this is going to be cemented to the future. Everybody who is procuring the services must look for the locally available skills. This being put in the documents is very critical."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nandi Hills, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Bernard Kitur",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Clause 20 of the Bill seeks to put in place safety guards for those whose payments are overdue. This brings in the aspect of pending bills. We need to support and reduce the number of people who supply goods and services but are not paid. They suffer because they may have taken loans or subcontracted other entities and they are not able to then pay. This creates a ripple effect within the economy. Creating these safety guards and bringing this conversation into this Act then continues to buttress what we have been talking about on the issue of the pending bills in our country. Section 155 continues to tighten the very aspect of providing a report to prove unavailability of local skilled and unskilled labour. This is where one has been awarded a contract to supply something and it is not available. The accounting officer is demanded to provide a report. I do not know what else we can celebrate than this very firm clause which makes me really support it."
}
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}