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{
"id": 1014732,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1014732/?format=api",
"text_counter": 250,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "The reason I am saying this is because - and Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. I agree with you - about two weeks ago I sent a petition to our county assembly about various issues that were of concern to me as the Senator in charge of Kericho. When the recommendations came back, they were just as generic as what is in this report; we are recommending DCI, we are recommending EACC. Fortunately, I took time to call the clerk of the county assembly of Kericho who worked on the report because he is somebody who is known to me. This is somebody with whom went to school together. I asked him: “Why would you recommend such?” He said that many of their reports, they draw the context and the wording from the reports that are produced in parliament and the Senate. Therefore, we must do something that radically departs from what we are used to, generally. This business of a Committee sitting and ensuring that they expose all the ills in a particular situation, then coming to be soft on the recommendations is something that this House today, is being called to make a radical decision on. You cannot tell me that after you have invited a private entity like General Electric and they have refused to show up, yet at the end of the term of this contract they are going to make away with Kshs28 billion, that we can just allow it to pass and say we refer them to the EACC. Which EACC? The same EACC that for the last six or seven years has not been able to prosecute the people who painted containers in green and white, dumped them in Mombasa and told us that those were mobile clinics? We have got to be serious as a House and the options that we have are quite limited. You will recall that I brought before you an amendment; and I do not want to revisit the ruling of the Speaker. I am well guided. However, I recall that on that day, I said that if I am not allowed to prosecute my amendment, then I will be forced to make a very difficult decision about this Report. I know that if I pass it as it is, that will be giving a pat on the back of the thieves that have executed this particular contract. It is unfortunate, but I call upon our colleagues to think through and let us make a decision that Kenya will eventually be proud of. I do not mind even waiting on decision making on this particular report because if it goes as it is, the companies that have been mentioned here, they are not just ordinary people. A company that does business with the Government of Kenya and is given business worth Kshs28 billion, this is not just business that you are given by a procurement officer. I daresay, that is not business that can be given just by a Cabinet Secretary. That is big business! In order for the KRA to collect Kshs28 billion, sometimes it takes almost a month. Therefore, for you to give a private entity, the ability to transact with you, like General Electric did in this particular deal, these are people that have connections in high places. If you read through the Report, you will realize that the companies that were involved in that scandal of mobile clinics, the containers that have been in Mombasa for the last five, six, seven years and nothing has been done about it, are the same companies that we are reading about, even in this particular current KEMSA scandal of COVID-19 millionaires. These are the same sharks who took donations from Jack Ma and you want to tell us we send them to DCI. What will Kinoti do to them? It is only us, as Parliament, that can make a decision with finality on what to do with these particular people. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}