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{
    "id": 1197425,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1197425/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Molo, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kuria Kimani",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. It is very good to see you on the Chair today. It is a great celebration for the great people of Nakuru County. I would like to start by weighing in on the issue of a person nominated to a position of Cabinet Secretary or any other Government position, while he has an ongoing court case. On the record of this House in July 2018, we held a debate on the nomination of one, Mr. Ben Chumo, who was nominated by His Excellency the former President to be the Chairperson of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). This House rejected him on the basis that he had an active ongoing corruption court case. A few years later, to be specific last month, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) withdrew the case against him. As a result, he was condemned for four years without a job and his reputation was tainted. He lost a chance to be the Chairperson of the SRC, even when he was not guilty of the offences that he was accused of. In the Report, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) was accused of not responding to four letters which were sent to them between October 2021 and May 2022. As a result, for a mistake that was not his and some malicious damage, we lost four years of this career civil servant. Are we going to do the same to the nominees who have been nominated to various positions just because there are ongoing court cases, even before a court ruling has said they are guilty? If we do that, then the easiest way to ensure that no person is approved in this House is to just start a fictitious court case against that particular candidate. Therefore, as long as someone has leveled allegations against you and taken you to court, then you will be cursed to hold any Government position in this country. This House cannot do that. We welcome for the first time the nomination to the Cabinet of one, Zachary Njeru, from Nakuru County. We, as Leaders of Nakuru County, note that this is the very first time we have a full-fledged Cabinet Secretary. Our friends from Azimio la Umoja were purporting that this man is not qualified. However, you have seen a person who has risen from being a nominated councillor. Even before he became a councillor, he was born in Bondeni Slums in Nakuru Town. He went to a District Day School, Nakuru Day Secondary School and then went all the way to the university, became a councillor and a Sub- County Administrator. This is the person who understands the real issues of housing in this country, especially because of where he was born. The perception we have of the housing sector being an issue of the rich will be brought to rest by this nominee for Lands, Housing and Urban Development. This is someone who understands what it means to be brought up in a slum. He understands when the President says we will have a project like the one he launched today in Kibera of people only paying Ksh2,500 a month as mortgage and then they end up owning that house. I listened to our Members here condemning Hon. Peninah Malonza. They said that she was not qualified for this position. In their view, she did not perform in a particular manner in the interview. On the contrary, we have had people speaking very fluent English with big vocabularies but when they were put to test on the matter they were speaking about, it was opaqueness and hot air. We cannot simply condemn Ms. Peninah Malonza because she did not perform well in the interview. This House has approved four candidates who spoke well and sounded convincing, only to realise they were lazy and incompetent in the positions that they were offered. I love the skill set in this Cabinet, especially the involvement of politicians as Cabinet Secretaries (CSs). I will put this matter to rest once and for all. There is a general attitude in this country that once you become a politician, you become stupid; you do not think and you become incompetent. We still have competent lawyers in the House. I am a practising certified Public Accountant even as I serve as a Member of Parliament. 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."
}