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{
    "id": 1355403,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1355403/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Again, some things do not make sense. There is a term ‘windfall gain’. Is it a criminal offence to make money as a civil servant or a public officer? Why do we criminalise enterprise? I do not want to belabour the point. If we look at Clause 26, it states that: “(1) An appointed public officer shall not— (a) solicit for contributions from the public unless the President has, by notice in the Gazette, declared a national disaster and allowed a public collection for the purpose of the national disaster”. (c) use official social media platforms or his place of work as an avenue for soliciting or collecting funds.” This is where the practical bit of this Bill comes in. I have a sick patient and I am unable to raise money as a Member of Parliament. Does this mean that my patient will die because I cannot ask my friend to contribute for me? We form WhatsApp groups when a Member is bereaved or has an activity. Does this mean we will kill this spirit completely because this means we cannot solicit funds? Again, if you become a former public officer, you are debarred for a whole two years from having any business dealing with the entity you worked for. This simply means if a Member of Parliament loses his seat and is suffering out there, he cannot be given an opportunity to supply toilet paper or fish here, like the fish from Lake Victoria which is in our neighbourhood. There are so many issues. The Bill falls short of what it is supposed to cure. We hear Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries stating they are worth Ksh500 million yet many of us know they cannot afford to buy themselves a cup of tea. Are we in any case setting up corruption in advance or anticipating in the period they will serve that they will make a certain amount of money? We need to address these issues. We are just making the work of EACC unnecessary onerous and too much yet there are more urgent issues to be dealt with. If they have to collect and analyse all the forms, how many civil servants do we have in this country and what is the staff complement of EACC? We need to re-look this. I am afraid that the amendments Members will bring in the Third Reading might amount to re-writing this Bill completely; literally every clause will have an amendment. My honest request to the Leader of the Majority Party is to go back and re-look. There is no limit to when you can withdraw a Bill. This is a bad Bill which requires further discussion and complete re-drafting before it is returned to this House for enactment otherwise, we will 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."
}