Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1072103,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1072103/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 351,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "and do a comprehensive Bill that covers both national and county projects within a holistic framework, hence the birth of this new Bill. This Bill seeks to provide the participation of the private sector but this is not possible now because there are challenges chiefly attributed to the legal framework. So, it seeks to provide for the participation of the private sector, not only in financing but also in construction and operational maintenance of infrastructure and development projects through the partnerships. It will also streamline the regulation framework for the PPPs. I did mention that this is now a consolidated view taking into account the Public Private Partnership Bill of 2017 and the one of 2013 plus the new thinking now. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, some of the changes proposed include reduction of committee members. Within the mediated version, there was a proposal that the composition of members should be 15. Now, 15 members in a committee is such a... The more members you have in a committee, the longer the decision-making. Good standards mean that the ideal committee membership should be between six and 12. The Mwongozo Code also talks about those numbers. This Bill intends to reduce the PPP committee members to 10 from 15. It is in the stead of having seven Principal Secretaries sitting in the committee. It is like everyone wants to be there, but that will only delay the wheel. This Bill is looking at having not more than three and also removing the Attorney-General (AG) who will be replaced by the Solicitor-General, who is the Principal Secretary in the Attorney-General's Office, three persons from the private sector, one person representing the Council of Governors (CoG) and a Director-General. So, it makes it so simple in terms of the number of people to serve in the committee. In respect to the functions and the powers of the PPP committee, it has been given some more policy direction functions while some of the technical functions have been assigned to a directorate. This is catered for under clauses 15 and 19. Due to the delays occasioned by requiring Cabinet approval of all the projects that are listed from the various ministries, this Bill has then gone ahead and removed Cabinet approval requirements and empowered the PPP directorate to consider and approve the project list from ministries and the supporting consent papers, and then to periodically brief the Cabinet. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as in the original Bill, the 2013 one, the architecture was such that ministries would generate a list of Bills that need to go to PPP and then to the Cabinet. That depends on when Cabinet will meet next and whether the item will actually be reached when it is on the agenda. So, it is lots of bureaucracy over bureaucracy. At the end of it all, we are talking of a whole Government approach. It is ministries proposing to co-ministries. So, instead of all that, let the ministries do it through the directorate. After approval, Cabinet is made aware and then it is processed through this committee that has Government representation. This is part of speeding up the decision-making and you will soon see why. This Bill has also — which is a different change that was neither in the 2013 Bill nor the mediated version — introduced local content provisions which give clarity on how the local communities and the local services are supposed to be tapped into any PPP. We have got this Nairobi Express Highway being built over Uhuru Highway. It was won by a Chinese group. They are doing their thing, but where is the provision for local content to be inbuilt within that? It is not in the law! What this Bill is now proposing to do is: when somebody comes to do the next PPP, it could be a flyover, a road over Kiambu Road, Limuru Road or somewhere in Eldoret or 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"
}