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{
"id": 1174369,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1174369/?format=api",
"text_counter": 1114,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mvita, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Abdullswamad Nassir",
"speaker": {
"id": 2433,
"legal_name": "Abdulswamad Sheriff Nassir",
"slug": "abdulswamad-sheriff-nassir"
},
"content": "There is a contract that had been given to a company called Dickways, at a price of Ksh189,698,208. The project was meant to commence on 14th August, 2012, for a period of 52 weeks. This is where I congratulate the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), which stopped this project because there was no environmental impact assessment that had been done on it. By the time this contract was suspended, the contractor had already been paid Kshs38 million. On behalf of the people of Changamwe, as I read this and speak on behalf of every other person, let it be known that the corporation failed to carry out the requisite due diligence. It did not have an environmental impact assessment, and they did not carry out a public participation exercise before commencing. Consequently, this has led to a proper dispute with the residents of Changamwe. In the recommendations, and this is what Parliament stands for: 1. The then managing director needs to be reprimanded for commencing a project before approvals. 2. The NHC, before they try to do anything in Changamwe and in any other area, the public, tenants and locals need to be made fully aware of what is going on. This is something that was reported in the Auditor-General’s report. I wish those people who are out there, trying to talk about how the SGR has done this and that, would take time to be in Parliament. I am honoured that some of the last breaths I took in the National Assembly, one of the things about which I have put my foot down is the signature I appended on the issue of the SGR loan. It was with the support of my Committee Members, the Auditor-General and the clerks whom I have diligently served with in this Committee. The KPA and the Kenya Railways (KR), under Clause 1.4 of the Payment Arrangement Agreement, were required to enter into a long term service agreement which provided under paragraph (c) of the preamble that – hear my words – the repayment of the principal, interest and fees of the loans were to be secured inter alia by a long term service agreement with an aim of guaranteeing a minimum amount of trade throughout the term of the agreement to be charged and received by the operator of the project. Therefore, the KPA has no mandate in guaranteeing cargo. These are not my words. My job was only to expose what it is. My job was to go in-depth on what it is that the Auditor-General has put up. It is my job and that of the Members who are here to state that this is what we want, and this is how it is going to be. This contract was written that in case of any shortcomings and if there is any arbitration, the arbitration would not be done in Kenya; it would be done in Beijing. I want to read out Clause 7(c), which said that “the KPA shall make good any shortfall arising either on account of failure to consign the minimum cargo as stipulated in Schedule 1, or to remit the amount of money commensurate with the volume of cargo so consigned, and shall pay to the Kenya Railways such an amount as is required to make good the shortfall within a period of 30 days following the completion of reconciliation expense”. What that basically means is that if they are unable to enforce cargo on the SGR. If Kenya, for some reason, is unable to have enough of that cargo, the KPA has to remove money and pay. This goes against even KPA’s own Act. I read this with a lot of pain. When we were going through this, my colleagues were in shock. We asked what is happening to the economy of Mombasa. I say this again; if I have been blessed to do anything, I can today say that amongst the last Reports I am tabling, in our recommendations includes that the Executive has to reverse such kind of irregular contracts. We cannot allow a whole nation or a whole region to suffer because of such kind of things. Needless to say, the KPA has so far been unable to meet these kinds of targets. The management’s response is that the minimum freight volumes and turnaround times in Schedule 1 of the Take of Pay Agreements envisaged that the KPA would be required to start providing the 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."
}