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{
    "id": 1161369,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1161369/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 208,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "replicated in those reports. We are not seeing action against governors. I do not know whether they have become small gods. We want to hear some answers. I wish this Committee had actually summoned the heads of EACC to appear before us and give an update on what they have done regarding all the reports touching on misappropriation of COVID-19 pandemic funds because we are not short of laws. We enacted the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act (POCAMLA) that was supposed to track money that is taken from public coffers and illicitly acquired assets so that we can make corruption very unattractive. As I said, we are not seeing action. We have recruited experts; Chief Officers (Cos) and CESs in counties. These are well educated people all with degrees. We even have directors. How come counties cannot even have work plans to respond on how to spend money advanced to them in response to a pandemic like COVID-19? It is really sad and what makes it sadder is that some of this money is being given to us by donors. How can you steal money given to us by donors to respond to a pandemic like COVID- 19? Some of these people are cursed. You can steal money meant for something else, but not money meant to assist us in providing health response to our people. This country is still analogue when everything is becoming digital, for example, with inventory management systems. I wish I had the opportunity to appear before this Committee. The biggest problem we have is that most counties receive drugs, but they end up in private chemists because there is no system. There is no inventory management system that is digital and that can help our counties manage drug supply system. I do not know about Uasin-Gishu and Narok counties, but in most of them, for example, Nyamira County; people go to hospital, see the specialists and are given prescriptions to take to the chemists. Are we then a devolved health care system? You go to a hospital get a prescription and directed to the chemist. The drugs you are going to get from the chemists are the same drugs bought by the county governments, but they find their way to those private institutions. We are stealing from poor Kenyans. By doing so, we are causing innocent people to lose their lives because we have greed for money. It is a shame. I hope the Senators here who have expressed interest in vying for the governor seats will perform slightly better because they know what we have gone through here and the kind of unfortunate reports that we receive through the CPAIC. It is really a shame. We are not giving hope to the people we represent. Devolution was meant to bring smiles to our people. Instead, it has brought sorrow. Looking at procurement systems in all the counties, there is none that does not have a director of procurement and several officers. However, they want to create weak systems, so that they can enable them to siphon and misappropriate public money. Anytime you want to undertake an audit, you will find a lot of weaknesses and loopholes around procurement. We are making a special appeal to the EACC and DCI to please take action. I was reading a report yesterday about how much money we are losing as a country in sending people to seek medical care out of the country because our health system is not functioning. Every year, Kenyans are spending Kshs10 billion in sending patients to India to seek medical assistance simply because our counties cannot bring Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines and cardiologists to deal with lifestyle diseases."
}