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{
    "id": 1111689,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1111689/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 406,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kindiki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1046,
        "legal_name": "Kithure Kindiki",
        "slug": "kithure-kindiki"
    },
    "content": "Today, I am not sure that our children across this country are looking forward to becoming successful professionals. This is because being a doctor, a lawyer and a teacher is no longer associated with succeeding in life and being wealthy. The sad story of our country is that the richest people today are in the public sector, mainly in politics and civil service or those whose parents or grandparents were in politics and civil service. Madam Temporary Speaker, this is against the norm internationally, where the wealthiest people are in the private sector. From Jeff Bezos to Jack Ma and very rich professionals that I know; doctors and lawyers. In fact, among the 20 richest people in the world, I think there is a doctor of South African origin, who runs a successful practice in the USA. I think he is in the top 10 rich people. However, in our country, the richest people are politicians, civil servants, and the families of people who have been in the public service and politics. We are all guilty. As much as I support this Bill, I see serious headwinds and turbulence hitting it. This is because our society is not very receptive of lifestyle audit and people asked to account for their wealth. We are all guilty and even the media is not spared. You will see from the media references to a Cabinet Secretary (CS) being moved to a lucrative Ministry while the position of the CS is a position which remuneration is constant. It is a rank that is paid or a Principal Secretary (PS). You will see the media saying a certain CS has been moved from a lucrative Ministry to a less lucrative Ministry or vice versa. We also hear media referring to Members of National Assembly, including Senators, serving in lucrative Committees. You wonder which this Committee that is lucrative and yet the allowance is standard. It is Kshs5,000 for attending a Committee meeting as far as I know. However, you will see references to lucrative Committees. Madam Temporary Speaker, this disease of corruption and the greed for money and unexplained wealth has affected our country in all sectors without exception. I dare submit that the problem we have is not lack of laws and I am not trying to demean or underrate the efforts of my sister Sen. Farhiya. I am not trying to underestimate what this Bill can do if it sees the light of day. Nevertheless, we have very good laws. We have one of the best Constitutions in the world which includes a very robust chapter on integrity and leadership. I have not seen this kind of law in any Constitution. I have looked at nearly all the Constitutions of the world and studied them at length. We have a few similar Constitutions, but Kenyan Constitution ranks highly in terms of profiling and elevating matters integrity and leadership and the need for a clean public service. However, it is the implementation where it matters. I really hope that this Bill will add value to the fight against corruption and the need for people to be transparent as they serve the nation. I dare submit that the experience this country is going through and you can see that when a very junior civil servant is accused of holding property which is in billions which cannot be explained. These are junior clerks in National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and other parastatals and policemen. I am not saying policemen cannot be rich. We are not also saying that junior clerks in Ministries and parastatals cannot be rich. However, the explanation is not there."
}