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{
    "id": 1034194,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1034194/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 418,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Gatanga, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Joseph Nduati",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13338,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Nduati Ngugi",
        "slug": "joseph-nduati-ngugi-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me a chance to also give my remarks. I support the Report. Before I give my remarks, I would like to congratulate you. We know you for being a champion in this Parliament. When we went to Burundi, you emerged a champion in the 800 metres and 4 by 400 metres races. You know how important stadiums are to some of us. I have heard Members saying that stadiums are useful to the young people. However, stadiums are also very useful to old people like us. For the young people, it is to keep them busy; for the old people like us, it is to remain healthy. I was very shocked the other day when I went to Railway Golf Club and discovered that that facility which I thought Parliament would acquire has been converted into a matatu stage. It is unfortunate. We have so many Members who do not have somewhere to even walk around. The Gym in Parliament is very congested and very poorly ventilated. In fact, with Covid-19, you cannot use it. The Report talks about how long the stadiums take to be constructed. One of the major problems we have in this country is the lengthy procurement method. The other problem why projects are not finished on time is the lengthy payment method. Just to have a certificate of completion certified by a ministerial technical team takes 60 days. When it gets to the accounts department, it acquires legs as it moves from examination to validation and many other departments. Unless we change from doing our procurement processes manually and move with the times, it will be very difficult to have work executed on time. The other problem is the issue of delayed payments. This has messed up local contractors. People keep complaining about local contractors. It is not that they do not perform. They perform very well. In the 1970s and 1980s, most of the projects in this country were done by local contractors. We had Karuri Construction, Ongata Works, BT Ndegwa and other prominent contractors. Nowadays, when you see a Cabinet Secretary somewhere launching a project, you will see him with a Chinese contractor. When he is with an African contractor, it is to abuse and 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."
}