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{
    "id": 1016186,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1016186/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 213,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "value. They are not original equipment manufacturers. They were unable to satisfy the Committee in any way or at all as to how they won the contract. They appeared before the Committee. They said, we have a power of attorney, we can bring it in five minutes. They were accompanied by some local lawyers. After 10 minutes, the lawyer vanished. They came again, appeared several times and eventually wrote some scandalous letters saying the Committee had made it impossible for them testify, yet as a comparison, Philips Eindhoven based in the Netherlands are original equipment manufacturers of the equipment the lot was given to them in the contract. They have Philips East Africa operating in Kenya. Philips East Africa could not tender because they are not original equipment manufacturers although they are a subsidiary of Philips Eindhoven. So, Philips Eindhoven themselves had to to tender, win the contract and within the framework of the contract, could only contract Philips East Africa as a sub-contractor to do their work. Why was it different for General Electric? That is why we have said investigate. Let EACC, DCI and Auditor-General come on board. We are talking of a company that has been paid or is going to earn in the seven years, over Kshs24 billion, taxed at source from each county. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we want to urge this House to approve these recommendations so that investigations can be carried out and those found to be culpable must be dealt with within the law. We have also as a Committee dealt with the issue of a company called Seven Seas. According to Minister Cleopa Mailu who testified before the committee, the nerve centre of MES is Healthcare Information Technology (HCIT). How is it a nerve centre? It was a component that was meant to make sure that in real time, a diagnosis in Mandera is transmitted to a nerve centre in Nairobi at Kenyatta National Hospital where there is a conglomeration of experts who will be able to read the images, interpret the images and in real time, send back the information to Mandera, Turkana or wherever for patients to be assisted. A very good idea. We went to Tana River. We found that when they take images they send physically, a runner to Mombasa to take the images for reading and interpretation and then return for attention. HCIT, the contract was first given to General Electric - the same contentious General Electric - at a cost of Kshs11 billion then the Ministry changed its mind and said we will tender this contract separately. A local company competitively participated called Seven Seas Technologies and they won the contract at Kshs4.9 billion, less than half what General Electric was getting. The Ministry of Health made it impossible for this company to do its work. The day Seven Seas appeared before the Committee, the next day, the Minister for Health and her PS terminated the contract unilaterally and sent them away. To date, the nerve centre for HCIT at Kenyatta National Hospital is still there, with early works done, non- operational. Mr. Speaker, Sir, may I request that if my Chairperson, the Mover did not exhaust her time, you will give me a few more minutes so that I can finish."
}