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{
    "id": 1355337,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1355337/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 111,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Beatrice Elachi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "targeting anyone. It is just a Bill to clean up our mess. I believe there can be a few amendments if we, in this House, agree that we are, indeed, in a mess and there is need to deal with it. The most important aspect is that nowadays, we hide too many things in the family. I do not need to hide if I am doing business if we can clean that up. Let me do it in a clean way. Let it be gazetted that I did a business because I am a Kenyan. Using families is where there is a disease. It is where we hide too many things. We need to look into this aspect. I agree that we should consider the ability of public officers to act objectively. As our Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee has said, these things start at very different levels. We need to ask ourselves questions from the level of directors. Let us go the Chinese way or do what the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) do – picking one thing and moving on with it. When doing cars, the Chinese move step by step. In the end, nobody has credit because everyone has touched on it. For us, you find that only a few people prepare the whole document. Therefore, they know where the nitty gritty is. They know the specs needed. They will even send you to China with the specifications before the tender is advertised in the papers. By the time the tender advertisement comes out, it is already known whom it belongs to. That is where the problem is. Can we do it the Safaricom way? Advertise the tender online such that when I apply, I do not know who is in charge. I only need to check if my documents have gone through. If my documents are correct in the first stage, they proceed to the next stage until they get to the last stage of the tender application. I would not need to know anything or anyone. The only determinant is how and when I submitted my documents. All sectors of the Government have tried to digitise their processes. Even then, there are always manual processes here and there. That does not mean that we deny ourselves the opportunity to engage in business as Members of Parliament. It just means that we need to do things correctly. We need to be free to engage in business correctly because we are also Kenyans. We should leave it open just like it was during President Kibaki’s administration, where many people were able to engage in business. We have the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) for the youth. Many youths have decided to pursue AGPO but, in the end, those who have been engaging in business for the last 50 years are the ones who got the opportunities. For example, someone in the Ministry of Health, who has engaged in business since time immemorial, is still doing the same. The Bill should stipulate that if you have worked in a Ministry or company for over 20 years, you must leave. That is the real conflict of interest. What are you still doing in that Ministry? This must cut across all Government Ministries. Give young people an opportunity to also engage in businesses, not just one person. It is not fair. Those are the things we need to consider as we talk about conflict of interest. It is not only about the EACC. You can call EACC officers and do what I saw happening in my county, where you give them something small and they go away. Some EACC officers are even being used by politicians. We must change the culture of setting up other people just as we set up Ms Ann Njeri. We have told her that she does not have the requisite documents but nobody is saying where her fuel is. That is another conflict of interest. We have just decided to rob her. We even dare to ask her where she got all her billions from. How dare we do that to a woman? We dare to ask her such questions because she is not a Cabinet Secretary or a Government official. She is just an ordinary Kenyan who has been engaging in business. Even as they build a case of conflict of interest against Ms Njeri, you will find that the money did not belong to her. She is just a smart businesswoman. She may have decided to engage in business on behalf of a Uganda, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), or any other country. That may be her client’s money. We must question all officers in authority. We may even find cases of conflict of interest at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and many other authorities. How many authorities do 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."
}