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{
    "id": 1016191,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1016191/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 218,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "A company can bring any equipment. Some may even be reconditioned or factory rejects and put at the disposal of Kenyans to work on our bodies. No wonder we are having so many health complications. In our recommendations, we have been informed clearly by the Office of the Director of Legal Services that as a Committee we find culpability, errors, shortcuts and shortcomings but the right procedure and have heard some colleagues complaining on why we did not recommend that so and so be prosecuted. The President dropped a list on the Floor of Parliament last term that destroyed people. Eventually he came round and said, “No. I did the wrong thing.” I have no doubt in my mind that what we have done is the right thing. We have made a specific recommendation on each item and we have said where culpability lies, we not only want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Director of Criminal Prosecutions(DCI) to investigate but to report to this House within 60 days or whichever so that this House can be able to keep abreast with the implementation of this very important report. Mr. Speaker Sir, let me mention some of the things that we encountered that we think things do not just work well in Government, and our Government must style up. The Attorney General was drafted in to approve something called a letter of support. His opinion was that the letter of support for particularly General Electric and Philips amounted to sovereign guarantees. Members, you know that nobody other than Parliament can give a sovereign guarantee in any transaction. I believe the Attorney General was truly bullied because letters were flying over and over and eventually he said, “Go ahead and execute.” One, it was a weakness on his part they ended up executing powers of attorney that were amounting to sovereign guarantees. Secondly, those letters of support contravened the Constitution. The office of the Attorney General must stand up and resist any attempts from any agency of Government from pushing them to do something that is unlawful. We hold that they take full responsibility for this kind of conduct. Members, the list of pricing was not picked from the suppliers or from the air. This Annex 14 was brought to the Committee by the then Minister of Health, hon. Sicily Kariuki. When you look at how they priced things into this MES Project, it is saddening. It is a sad day for our country. Imagine a spotlight that you can pick from a supermarket. It is a torch. Perhaps when you say a spotlight, it reminds you of the good old days when Africans were called rat killers and Mzungus were called rodent officers. Mr. Speaker Sir, a torch was procured for Ksh1.4 milllion and a stethoscope for Kshs1.6 million. An oven, and we saw some of them- they are not any different from the microwave ovens you use in your houses. That you can walk to Carrefour and pick for Kshs7000 - they were procured for Kshs1.2 million. A washbasin which even if it was made of marble that you use in your sitting rooms and dining halls was procured for Kshs1.3 million for one. A baby cot was procured for Ksh1.4 million. An electric kettle, and it is not one from the moon. It is the electric kettle where you put water, hook on power, boil and use is being procured for Kshs1.2 million. A patient stretcher was procured for Kshs2.1 million when the average market price which the Committee got was Kshs30,000. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}