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{
    "id": 1020448,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1020448/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 208,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Eldas, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Adan Keynan",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 41,
        "legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
        "slug": "adan-keynan"
    },
    "content": "letter and the spirit of the current Constitution to ensure that those parastatals do business differently. They have become a public money guzzler. Every year, we appropriate funds to those institutions. Instead of making returns to the Exchequer, they only bring back deficits. It is high time that we limit those organisations in line with the Mwongozo Regulations. That policy was very important, good and progressive but as usual, we fear implementing progressive laws. Where are the Mwongozo Regulations? Why are they not being implemented? It took very broad-minded committees to come up with them. They have been shelved. It is high time that through you and this House, the Mwongozo Regulations are implemented so that we have productive and efficient public investment entities. The other bit which has always been an issue is pending cases in court. That issue has been abused. You realise that the process of internally-arranged legal representation or outsourced lawyers has become an avenue for corruption. It is high time that no case involving a particular State corporation takes more than a year or two years. There are cases that have been going on for the last 10 or 15 years. You ask the organisation to declare how much they spent on that particular case and you realise it is even more than what the organisation requires for operations. You ask yourself who benefits from that particular case. It reminds me of what a friend of mine once told me. He once sent his son to study law in America. When the son was leaving Kenya, there was an open case file. When he came back 10 years down the line, he realised the same file was still open. He asked the father why he had not concluded the case. The father told the son that he was foolish because without that file, he would not have gone to America. Do we not see the same thing in the many case files that are still open? The other bit that is of great concern to those organisations is the appointment of accounting officers. An officer serves in an acting capacity for five years. For instance, the Director-General of the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) was confirmed the other day. He had been serving in an acting capacity for five good years. That denies that officer fair judgement and the right to think and be independent. Therefore, it is high time that the appointing authorities realise that appointment to some of those key positions must be expedited so that those people can act independently. The moment you are serving in an acting capacity, you are not sure if the next moment you will be in office or somebody else will be brought in, in an acting capacity. Therefore, you must ensure that anything you do is in conformity what is expected of you. This is one thing that we can put our foot down on because we currently have so many regulations. I know I am running out of time so maybe you will give me two more minutes. This is one area that we really need to address because it has always been the case. The other bit is the issue of the financial performance stability of the State corporations. Do we need to have State corporations that do not add value to the public interest? Hon. Speaker, can I get an additional minute?"
}