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{
"id": 1503272,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503272/?format=api",
"text_counter": 512,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Daadab, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker": null,
"content": "There are two things that I wanted to bring to the attention of the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning. Under our current practice, Hon. Kimani, you can register a local company regardless of whether you are a Kenyan or a foreigner. You can also do so as an investor from outside for the short period you are here. This is where you justify your money by buying small properties or anything else you would want to do. You will be allowed to register a company. Also, you may just stay with a residence permit, even as a pensioner, then you go ahead and register a company. That company will be a local company; it is not a foreign company. A foreign company is a presumption that the Articles of Association and everything else is in a foreign country. It is a multinational business. So, that is a window that you need to look at very closely. The other bit which I had mentioned to you when I was on the Chair, you clarified it. However, I think we need to look at it a bit more closely. The issue is on fully funded donor projects. In 100 per cent donor-funded projects they usually want you to do its procurement process in their own places. They would prefer their own companies to take advantage of it because they want to take some money back home. When they give you free money, that will be it. Let me tell you one thing. Traditionally, folks in Treasury and many other Government offices – I do not know whether we are going to change that situation now – do not have any interest in the fully funded donor projects. When you are given a 100 per cent grant, they will have very little role in it. When it is a loan, they will like it because they will do the procurement themselves. That essentially is one of the ways that corruption has flourished here. If the money is a loan, we will pay ourselves. Our own officers will do the contracting and through that they can make their own small commissions. When it is a 100 per cent grant, there is very little enthusiasm in Treasury because the Treasury will have very little role in it. So, we have to look at that closely. I have been around much longer than most of you. I can remember when we had the Kenyanisation, Africanisation, and indigenisation of the economy and a lot of things that happened then. It was very easy those days to find in Bishara Street and many other places businesses like Kaluma Enterprises or Kaluma Limited. However, Kaluma had a little role in it and there was a small amount of stipend that he could be given every month. People were doing a lot of things like coffee roasting and coffee trading. The Transport Licensing Board (TLB) those days had restrictions on the extent you could allow non-Kenyans to get involved in business. There was effort to try and protect that for Kenyans, but there were people who always found a way to beat it. Trucks were bought by somebody else and buses were owned by a foreigner. Because the foreigners were using a local’s licence, they paid the locals something little for it. So, probably things are not going to be as bad as it was in those days, but I really want to encourage it. I want to borrow a leaf from the South Korean model of business. When we got independence, the South Koreans were poorer than us. As a matter of fact, the President of South Korea at the time was called Park Chung-hee. He was an Army General. He wanted to"
},
{
"id": 1503273,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503273/?format=api",
"text_counter": 513,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Daadab, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"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."
},
{
"id": 1503274,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503274/?format=api",
"text_counter": 514,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Daadab, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker": null,
"content": "go around the world to see development first hand. However, he did not have a million dollars to facilitate his movement with his entourage. So, he came to our President Jomo Kenyatta and borrowed the one million dollars. Kenya loaned him one million dollars to go around the world, which he did. When he went back afterwards, the first thing he did, for purposes of technology transfer, was to seek technical scholarships from top universities in the world like Caltech, MIT, UCLA. He did not bother so much with liberal arts and humanities; he went for technology. So, about 3,000 of them were sent out of the country on scholarships; some to do their first degree, others their second degree and others even went beyond that. They again went to do apprenticeship in Ford Motors. You know what I mean. There was CMC too. What was it called? The American one?"
},
{
"id": 1503275,
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"text_counter": 515,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(An hon. Member spoke off the record)"
},
{
"id": 1503276,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503276/?format=api",
"text_counter": 516,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Daadab, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Yes, it was called CMC. They went to those big companies and industries as apprentices and interns and came out with skills after staying there for a couple of years. When they went back home, they began setting up big industries. The Koreans started small, but quickly went up the ladder to now becoming one of the few countries that can build the biggest ships with a Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) of up to 500,000, or a 6 by 400,000 carrying capacity. Those are big ships. Those countries also used their military. I was in Egypt the other day where the military built one million houses in a year. They built around 1.13 million houses in a year. That is not how we are currently doing it in Kenya where we have asked the military to start transacting business by taking over the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC). That makes them corrupt. The Egyptian military gets materials from the Government and works. They do not purchase or procure anything. All that is done centrally and at the cheapest prices. That is good and I agree with it. We cannot practise protectionism or isolationism where we refuse to get involved in certain matters, if we are to grow our economy. Engaging in business in a number of western countries is very difficult today. It is tough if you are a Kenyan or a South African. Those western countries do not allow anyone to break into their markets. There is a lot of protectionism. Because we are behind in technology and many other things, we have to do much more than just protect our contractors. I urge Hon. Kimani, the brilliant young whiz kid, to broaden the scope of the Bill. Maybe at the Committee of the whole House stage, he can make powerful amendments, so that we have a proper economic blueprint. I want us to go out of our way. When I was pursuing my post-graduate studies, I once had an opportunity to study one module in one of the prestigious universities in South Korea. They only had two things when they got their independence. The first one was sea weeds. The second one was not such a good thing. It was what they called comfort girls, who used to work as maids in Japan and send money back home. Today, their economy is probably 30 or 40 times greater than ours yet their population and landmass are similar to ours, if not less. So, I commend Hon. Kimani, but at the same time we have to think outside the box. We do not want to take baby steps; we want to take elephant steps. I support the Bill."
},
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"id": 1503277,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503277/?format=api",
"text_counter": 517,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
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"content": " Hon. Timothy Toroitich, who will be followed by Hon. Makilap, then Hon. Sabina Chege."
},
{
"id": 1503278,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503278/?format=api",
"text_counter": 518,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Marakwet West, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Timothy Kipchumba",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very progressive piece of legislation. I agree with the sentiments of Hon. Kitur who said that Hon. Kimani Kuria has been very instrumental in mentoring the first timers in this House. This is a very progressive piece of legislation. It is meant to curb corruption in our country. Procurement is meant to help"
},
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"id": 1503279,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503279/?format=api",
"text_counter": 519,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Marakwet West, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Timothy Kipchumba",
"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."
},
{
"id": 1503280,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503280/?format=api",
"text_counter": 520,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Marakwet West, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Timothy Kipchumba",
"speaker": null,
"content": "young entrepreneurs, so that they can invest and get something small. Unfortunately, for a long period of time, this system has been used by a few individuals to benefit themselves rather than achieving the intended goals set out when the parent legislation of 2015 was passed by this House. What is more interesting about this Bill is that it comes at the backdrop of the recent speech by the President, particularly in admonishing the National Treasury for failing to implement the e-procurement system for the last 10 years. As I said yesterday, the intention of this Bill is to fight corruption, and this House has an obligation to assist the President of this Republic in this fight. How do we do it? We must be able to check the Executive without fear of intimidation. The only way we can do that is through robust oversight. The President is working hard to transform this country, but as a House we must check certain offices in the Executive so that we can assist him in fighting corruption."
},
{
"id": 1503281,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503281/?format=api",
"text_counter": 521,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Marakwet West, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Timothy Kipchumba",
"speaker": null,
"content": "We may pass this law, but someone else may circumvent the implementation of this particular piece of legislation. Therefore, we need to assist the President as a House, and not just to sing along, but to ask certain hard questions as we perform the sacrosanct oversight role of this House. Clause 10 of the Bill seeks to empower local manufacturers by ensuring that locally produced products or services are prioritised in the procurement and asset disposal process. This is meant to empower local manufacturers and will create employment. When we prioritize local manufacturers, it will lead to the growth of our local manufacturing industry, and that is how we will create employment in this country. On the issue of empowering local contractors, the proposed law clearly states that any foreign firm shall be eligible for procurement contracts exceeding Ksh1 billion. However, for contracts below Kshs1 billion, only local contractors are eligible. Even foreign contractors must enter into a joint venture with local contractors or firms for not less than 30 per cent. That is meant to empower local contractors. Another issue we have in this country is misrepresentation by local or foreign firms. I thank the Mover of the Bill for clearly stating that a foreigner who registers a company by misrepresenting themselves as a Kenyan shall be liable to a fine not exceeding Ksh5 million. This is where I will propose an amendment. In any case, these foreigners are multibillion entities and, therefore, the fine of Ksh5 million is insufficient. A company is a legal entity. In fact, they should be blacklisted. That is my proposal. The fine is insufficient and they will simply run local companies out of town. Furthermore, Clause 12 proposes that local firms shall be eligible for 30 per cent of what has been bid for. It further states that a procuring entity must set out specific goods, works, and services to be undertaken by a local firm under joint venture procurement. So, despite the not less than 30 per cent allocation, it is clear that specific goods and works will be procured or undertaken by local firms, which will assist our local manufacturers."
}
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}