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{
    "id": 1399556,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399556/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 260,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13589,
        "legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
        "slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, EACC is one of the major institutions and a key element. I am happy with what the Chairperson of EACC did yesterday to release the corruption index in the country; the Ministries, where a lot of money is being lost. Earlier on there were reports that billions of shillings get lost every day through corruption. That means that the people of Kenya are losing a lot of their taxes to individuals' pockets, whereby, instead of the Nation prospering, individuals prosper. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in this regard, this law is very important. As I have said, I like the fact that the Senate, under your leadership in the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), has taken the matter very seriously. I have consulted some of the stakeholders in this and mainly, one of the major stakeholders is the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and many other organizations and individuals who have an interest in having a better nation. However, how do you deal with corruption and conflict of interest when the EACC is not strengthened enough to deal with corruption in the counties? From the information we have, counties are likely to face extinction and we are here to protect devolution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when you go by the latest judgment, it says that some parts of the Government Proceedings Act are unconstitutional and therefore now anyone can auction Government. This means then counties from the debts they have can be auctioned to the last coin. Therefore, it affects devolution in a certain way. Additionally, some of the counties have been very difficult. Some conflicted officers in the counties have refused intentionally to pay people who have worked for the counties and Government. The Government refuses to pay them for years and you force those people to go on their knees or to close down their businesses and livelihoods. This law will go a long way to make sure that most of these things are taken care of. The most important thing is, if you are found to be conflicted and you are doing business with the Government, or your companies are the ones which are associated with the procurement and are procuring business from Government and you happen to be there as just a broker, then are we giving business to the right people in this country? Is it just cartels or just making sure that certain individuals are the ones who benefit? Even when people go for tendering, the tendering is just a cosmetic affair. Whoever will win the business is known. The same thing applies when we are doing recruitment for prison officers, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) warders and the army. In fact, it is rumoured that it is so difficult for one to be recruited into the army. Although they announce there is no corruption and that qualified individuals will be recruited into the army, you go and participate in the recruitment process, you are very fit and are qualified, you meet the health requirements, but somehow even if you run and become number one, you never end up in the army. Unless some of the retired generals recommend from different regions of the country. It could be good if security scrutiny is done because if there are rogue elements in the army then you have many secrets leaking out. How do we make sure that there is no conflict of interest that certain people were not just marionetting in the whole exercise and make sure everybody is playing as they wish? Additionally, how do you make it equal for every individual, so that a poor person who has no influence through whatever"
}